Book Scavenger

“What bothered her, she realized as she covertly watched those girls, was that she would never have that circle of friendship. Thanks to her family’s traveling lifestyle, she would always be the outsider.”

Emily feels her alienation most keenly at school. She not only longs for continuity in her home life but also continuity in peer relationships that last for a lifetime. She wants to create shared memories, but her family’s lifestyle destroys all chance of that, or so she thinks.

“The puzzles and riddles were fun, and she devoured the books, but the actual seeking was what brought her back to this game again and again.”

Emily describes her fascination with the scavenger game as if she were a predator on the hunt. The thrill of the chase motivates her. Ironically, she chases books the way her parents chase new living experiences. Emily fails to see the parallel.

“It was a little overwhelming how different James’s apartment felt from Emily’s, which was nearly identical in layout but nothing else [...] James had said his family had been living in this building for generations, and you could feel it.”

Emily sees the basic similarity in the physical dimensions of two living spaces, but they are worlds apart in terms of the history and memories they contain. James’s family maintains continuity, as seen in the accumulation of physical objects in his home. Emily’s home is sterile by comparison. It contains no history of its occupants.

“Reading would be lonely without Book Scavenger. Moving again would be unbearable without Book Scavenger.”

Emily is fearful that Griswold might not recover, and so she contemplates the negative consequences for her own life. This quote reveals that Book Scavenger represents the only source of continuity in Emily’s chaotic life. In contrast to her sterile apartment, her mental life is rich in history as long as the game survives.

“If sightseeing and exploring new places is our family norm, then maybe adventure isn’t the right word choice.”

Emily’s father is excited by the adventure of exploring their new town. As his daughter rightly points out, this has become status quo for the family. Adventure should take one out of ordinary existence, not become the definition of ordinary as it has become for the Cranes.

“She thought of James’s apartment and all the photos and trinkets. What if the box had been full of old family photos or heirlooms—something special that you wouldn’t technically need for a year, but was still important all the same?”

Emily is contemplating her family’s habit of discarding unopened moving boxes if they haven’t been opened for a year. Once again, she keys on the necessity of preserving a sense of history. Her parents are so obsessed with looking forward to the future that they can see no value in looking back at the past. 

“If you knew somebody had their hopes up to find a certain book, why would you want to beat them to it and squash their hopes, just because you could?”

Emily is making a comment about poachers in general and Babbage in particular. The fact that Babbage is later revealed to be one of her teachers is disturbing. Quisling seems to enjoy putting his students down, just as he puts down fellow players by poaching books that they are eager to find.

“‘So, Emily Crane,’ Mr. Quisling said. ‘Where are you from?’ A simple question, but it always threw her. She wasn’t from anywhere.”

Quisling’s question implies that people define themselves by their home ground. Even when they travel, people are assumed to have a stable base to which they return after their adventures are over. In contrast, Emily’s life is a perpetual unwelcome adventure. There is no safe place that she can call home.

“Books and games are how people feel close to Mr. Griswold. That’s what connects them to him. They want his game to exist, and so they find it in the unlikeliest of places.”

Jack is showing Emily and James the books and notes that gamers send to Griswold, thinking they have stumbled on one of his new games. The assistant emphasizes the emotional connection that fans have with their idol. Emily is bound even more strongly by an emotional connection to the game and its inventor, as it is the only connection in her disconnected world.

“Mr. Griswold loved this bit of publishing lore. To him that rabbit represents how one idea—whether it’s a book or a game or something else—can capture the fascination of so many people at once, to the point where a community is built up around it where nothing existed before.”

Jack is talking about one of Griswold’s earlier games, but the principle remains the same with Book Scavenger. The intent is to create a community of like-minded book lovers. This is the only community in which Emily can participate and feel as if she belongs.

“Clues and riddles could take you only so far […] After that it was a matter of sleuthing—investigating crevices that would be a convenient place to hide a book-shaped object, observing a pile of freshly dug dirt, or noticing something out of place.”

Emily is describing the scavenging process as something more than an intellectual exercise. It consists of much more than simply reading a book. By hiding them, books become secret parts of the landscape that require physical effort to unearth. They create mystery within a commonplace backdrop.

“It was always difficult to choose which of her books to give away. Her most favorites were marked up with hearts and exclamation marks and other reading notes in the margins, so she would never part with those.”

Emily is contemplating which of her books she will hide for another scavenger to find. Her emotional attachment to books is evident by the hearts she marks in them. This feeling for physical objects and the memories they evoke is something her parents can’t seem to grasp.

“‘If we lived here, I’d live above a bookstore,’ she said, thinking of the apartments above Hollister’s. ‘Ooh, yes,’ her mom said. ‘If only.’ And Emily wondered, why if only? ‘If only’ implied ‘if only we could stay,’ and the idea of calling San Francisco home didn’t sound so unreasonable to her.”

Mrs. Crane is once again focused on the quest for new adventures. The idea of staying in one place doesn’t even strike her as remotely possible. Her fixation on adventure blinds her to other possibilities.

“She wished James could have come with her tonight. He would have liked the whole hiding-a-book-underwater thing. How odd that she could be a solo book hunter for years and enjoy it, but now it felt like something was missing to be on her own.”

James is unavailable, so Emily hides her next book alone. Just as her mother is incapable of seeing settling down as an option, Emily has always assumed friendlessness was her only option. Only after forging a relationship with James does she realize what has been missing from her life.

“Emily’s anger at the suggestion of giving away The Gold-Bug melted into embarrassed horror when she realized that James was right. She hadn’t helped him with the cipher challenge at all.”

Emily has already sunk into her obsession with winning the gold-bug game. She minimizes other people’s priorities in favor of her own. Only after James points this out does she have the good grace to be ashamed of her selfish behavior.

“The day after her fight with James was the first time in the weeks since starting Booker that Emily felt lost in the big school. Not lost in the can’t-find-my-classroom sense, but in the where-do-I-fit-in sense.”

In all of Emily’s previous schools, she adopted the loner persona to get her through the year. Knowing James has altered her role. He was her friend from the first day in class. Now that he is gone, she doesn’t know how to relate to her fellow students. Although painful, this transition will help Emily sort out her priorities and realize the value of having friends.

“What I finally figured out with all our moving is you miss out on stuff whether you stay or go. So I decided to just go with it. Embrace how we live.”

Matthew is explaining his “go-with-the-flow” philosophy to Emily. He has adapted by getting a cell phone to stay in touch with his absent friends. While this attitude might create less stress for him, it also enables his parents to continue to pursue a selfish agenda without regard for their children’s psychological well-being.

“Mr. Quisling’s expressions were like a closet of pressed gray suits. All pulled together, all professional, all respectable. But it was hard to tell from day to day if the gray suit he wore was the same or different from the one he wore before.”

Throughout the book, Quisling is portrayed as an ambiguous character. He seems to enjoy bullying his students in class, yet he shows a genuine fascination with teaching them ciphers. He disciplines Maddie for cheating yet isn’t above poaching books as a scavenger. Emily’s gray suit analogy keys on this cryptic quality.

“‘I don’t know how to be a good friend.’ Hollister blew a raspberry. ‘Nonsense. There’s no “how” about it. Just be. Just do. That’s all a good friend is.’”

Despite Hollister’s dismissive comment, Emily’s observation is valid. Because she has never been involved in a friendship before, she doesn’t know how to model good friend behavior. Emily’s heart is in the right place, but she’s still a little shaky on the actions required of a supportive friend.

“There was something to be said for stopping to enjoy your surroundings, too, instead of always looking ahead to what came next. She didn’t care what was waiting around the next bend.”

Emily is once again observing her parents’ thirst for new experiences. For most of the novel, the elder Cranes demonstrate an adolescent craving for sensation. Bertman suggests that Emily may have a more grown-up perspective on life than her parents.

“Emily lifted the sealed papers from the metal box and stood. She knew she was holding a one-of-a-kind literary treasure and should be feeling something along the lines of awe or amazement, but all she felt was disappointment.”

During the quest, Emily has been torn by two conflicting emotions. She is obsessively concerned with finishing the game because it might be Griswold’s last. At the same time, having finished the game, she now believes that this really is the end of the line for Book Scavenger, and that realization depresses her.

“But however long they had left could never feel like enough. Six months, nine months, a year. It never felt like enough time when you knew you’d be saying your good-byes soon. And how do you open yourself up to hellos when you’re already preparing to say good-bye?”

Emily is painfully aware of future consequences. Once again, she demonstrates a mature understanding of the need for stability and continuity. Given the inevitable time limit placed on her friendship with James, Emily can never completely let down her guard.

“‘We realize we’ve been a bit selfish,’ her mom said. ‘And you and Matthew are getting older. You’re developing your own independent dreams and aspirations, and they may not sync with ours. Last night made us realize that we want the whole family on board for our next move.’”

The Crane parents realize the toll their unconventional lifestyle is taking on their children. Significantly, Emily loved the adventure of moving when she was very young. As Emily and Matthew also learn how to prioritize the emotional needs of others, the Crane parents finally begin to think about their children’s desires along with their own.