Module 5: Replay

Creech, Sharon. 2005. Replay. HarperCollins: New York. ISBN 978-0-06-054020-3.

All the world’s a stage. And all men and women are merely players. These words from Shakespeare describe the manner Sharon Creech used to show scenes from the life of Leo and his immediate and extended family. Leo’s family is full of intriguing and complex characters. His sister is transforming from a caring older sister to a moody, adolescent girl. His father is not the same since his heart attack. Leo has an aunt that no one will talk about. Using stage cues and writing dialogue as a script, Sharon Creech cleverly relays the story’s events as if they are a sequence from the theatre. While Leo is learning his lines for a school play, he finds a box of his father’s childhood mementos, including his father’s autobiography. As Leo reads the autobiography, he begins to analyze how people change as they grow up and what events cause changes. The scenes of Leo’s daily life are interrupted by scenes from Leo’s imagination. These imaginative interludes reveal Leo’s desires and dreams. At the end of the story, Leo’s school play script is included. Ms. Creech has written an original story in an innovative manner about family.