Heartbeat

Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Middle Grade | Published in 2004

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Pages 9-40

Pages 41-61

Pages 62-82

Pages 83-100

Pages 101-117

Pages 118-128

Pages 129-148

Pages 149-175

Pages 176-199

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

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Pages 83-100Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Pages 83-100 Summary

Annie looks through old photographs with her grandfather and marvels at the passage of his life throughout the pictures, “how that young boy / turned into an old grandpa” (84). She even sees some of her own life, as she looks at pictures of her grandparents holding her as a baby.

When Max joins her on a run, he runs faster than usual, and when they stop, he checks his watch and claims that she slowed him down. They get into an argument, as he pesters her once again about joining the track team and calls her a chicken for not joining. She tells him that she isn’t afraid, she just doesn’t understand why someone needs to win or lose when they run. Max runs off in anger.

In “Grandpa Talk,” Annie draws her 45th apple in her grandfather’s room and tells him about Max and why she doesn’t want to join the track team. She says that everyone tells her she will regret it. He says that everyone told him the same thing when he ran, and he never regretted it. He falls asleep, and Annie draws a picture of his profile.

In “Mad Max,” Annie is excited to mow Ms. Cobbler’s lawn that day, because then she will have enough money for the art supplies she wants. When Max joins her on her run, he is clearly upset. Annie asks him about his running shoes, and Max angrily replies that he still can’t afford them. Reluctantly, Annie offers Max her savings, but he turns her down and takes off running again. Annie stays behind, saddened that Max seems angry with her.

Pages 83-100 Analysis

Just as Annie struggles to conceive how her grandfather can be changing as he ages, she struggles to imagine him being a younger man, and even the same age as her. In “Flip, Flip, Flip,” the repeated sound of the pages of the photo album turning is a refrain as Annie watches her grandfather age; “that smooth skin / those skinny legs / that dark hair” (83) are transformed by time, and by the end of the album, “Grandma is gone / Grandpa’s hair turns gray” (85). Fast forwarding through his life, Annie imagines that her grandpa also “wonders / how that young boy / turned into an old grandpa” (84). Her wonder at how her grandpa can transform in this way mirrors her wonder at the growth of her unborn sibling.

A rift grows between Annie and Max over their differing views on competitive running. When she expresses that she still doesn’t get the point of winning or losing at running, despite Max’s consistent pressure for her to join the track team, he is dismissive of her: “he shakes his head / and says / You just don’t get it, do you? / And I am thinking to myself / that he is the one/ who does not get it” (89). Because running is so important to them, their disagreement morphs from being trivial to being extremely personal. After Max angrily explains that he cannot buy running shoes, he storms off, confusing Annie. She feels “profoundly sad / that he seems / angry / with / me / and / I / do / not / know / why” (99). As the lines of verse break into single words, Annie’s emotional frustration is felt.

Annie confides in her grandfather about running, as he is in a lucid state. He tells her that he never regretted giving up competitive running but falls asleep before he can say more about his past with the sport. She begins drawing pictures of him sleeping, much like her drawings of her apple. Like her apple drawings, she realizes it is a way to keep her grandpa with her and preserve the parts of him that seem to fall away: “I lie back on the floor / and close my eyes / and try to keep the image / of my grandpa’s face / in my mind” (95).