Family is everything

This is the main message in all the five stories from Claudia, Ralph, Colin, Pixie and
Robbo. Love is the factor that binds the family together but sometimes the family
unit breaks down due to a lack of understanding between parents. Most of the time,
children are not prepared for such a situation and this lands them in an awkward
and painful situation. It is important to minimize the impact of divorce on children
and to make sure they do not feel unwanted or unimportant. Parents must always
try to keep the family together despite the breakdown in their relationship.

Patience is a virtue
It is important to practice a lot of patience in difficult times. No parents would want a
divorce if they can help it. Hence, everyone affected by a divorce must be patient
and tolerant. Richard Clayton Harwick does not show enough patience when he
leaves his family because he cannot get along with his step father. As a result of his
action, his mother dies of heartbreak and his sister blames him for being selfish and
cruel. In Pixies story, she does not show much patience towards her step siblings.
She refuses to share her bedroom with Hetty. She is also hard headed and argues
intensely with her step mother.

We must learn to adapt to new situations
Children from broken homes have no choice but to learn to adapt to new situations.
This may be unfair to the children who seem to be the victim of circumstances
beyond their control. However, in the five stories told, we learn that adapting is
better than resisting although it takes a lot of patience and effort on the childrens
part. Claudia shows she is a rational and sensible child to accept her step mother.
Ralph, who has three step mothers, gets along with all of them despite their
different personalities.

Dont give up hope
Colins story is the saddest of all. He does not give up hope of one day finding Jack
whom he accepts as his own father. He saves all his money and plans to look for
his dad when the time is right. Colin is a very determined person despite his young
age. He knows what he wants. Robbo also hopes his sister Callie will accept their
step father Roy. However, Callie resents Roy and decides to live with her real
father in the end.















SYNOPSIS
It is a wild and stormy night when five British school children from Mordanger School arrive
ahead of their classmates for a week-long field trip at haunted Old Harwick Hall. With the
aid of flashes of lightning, the two girls Claudia and Pixie and three boys, Robbo, Ralph
and Colin find a long-abandoned secret room containing a mysterious journal. On the
cover, it reads, Richard Clayton Harwick My Story. Read and Weep. From the journal,
the children uncover the story of a boy who runs away from the sinister influence of a
loveless stepfather. Richard Clayton Harwicks longhidden journal provides an inner tale
that triggers off, one by one, each of the stories of
the listening children, all of whom also have steps, or step-parents, to share their own
sagas. And what engrossing, heart-rending stories they are: of hurting but still humorous
children picking their way through a minefield of embittered or uncommunicative or just
plain immature parents, insecure or reluctant step parents and resentful step siblings.
However, the lack of a principal plot is of no consequence as the novel main purpose is to
serve as a forum for the various stories. Step by Wicked Step proves that all pain
eventually heals and that we have the power to change things
for the better.

PLOT SUMMARY
This novel is really five stories within a story that are induced by a story, like a nesting
puzzle. So, we have six stories in the book. There may be a lack of a principal plot here
but it is of no consequence as the novels main purpose is to serve as a forum for six
various stories of Richard Clayton Harwick, Claudia, Colin, Ralph, Pixie and Robbo.
In Step by Wicked Step, five boys and girls find themselves in an old house on a stormy
night. In a hidden tower room they discover an old diary of Richard Clayton Harwick, who
left behind a journal account of his wicked stepfather. Read and Weep, says the spidery
writing on the cover of the book.

After Richard Clayton Harwicks father passes away, he was sent to Mordanger School for
four long years. He wishes to burn Mordanger to ashes as to him, theres no meaner
place on earth than this boarding school. When he returns to Old Harwick Hall, he could
not get along with his wicked and loveless stepfather, Reverend Coldstone. Being robbed
of all his precious tokens from home, Richard makes the decision to leave and become a
cabin boy when a great ship strains at the tide. His decision has caused anguish in his
mother and sister, who have spent a fortune seeking his return. He did not return to see
his mother or sister until he read a square print from Riddle & Flook which requested him
to claim his ownership to Old Harwick Hall. By then, Richard knows that his stepfather,
mother and sister have passed on. Only then, he realises his decision to leave has
changed the lives of his family members.

Harwicks story prompts Claudia, Colin, Ralph, Pixie and Robbo to tell their own tales of
stepfathers, stepmothers, and stepsiblings, who are in turn eccentric, beloved, unwelcome,
and almost always misunderstood. Each vignette* is a wonderful study of human nature.
As the lightning flashes, the children begin to relate their own tales of step parents, stories
that are full of warmth and humour, yet with a fair share of sadness. At first it seems the
children could have nothing in common. Sports-mad Robbo, quick-witted Ralph, sensible
Claudia, fiery Pixie and dreamy Colin seem as different to each other as it is possible to
be. Yet they soon find they have one thing in common, and that they are all the products of
broken homes and they once have a turbulent relationship with a step- or steps- Below
are the five stories in steps by wicked steps spin off from Richard Clayton Harwicks My
Story. Read and Weep. As Ralph says, Stories dont have to be written, he reminded
Claudia. This is the night for stories. Off you go, he reiterated.


THEMES

Family unity
The nucleus of moral values, the family unit, is being invaded by outsiders (step or
steps) and this causes disharmony.

Dealing with adversities
Young children and adults may find difficulties dealing with frustrations, fears and sadness.

Being happy
Life has dealt us one hard blow, there is no reason for us to be unhappy for ever. For
example, Claudia realises it is not fair to hate her new stepmother, Stella.

Think long enough before making a decision
Richard Harwick made a rash decision to run away and that had changed the lives of his
stepfather, mother and sister.

Sibling rivalry
Resentful step-siblings cause burden and hostility in a home.

Coping with change
All pain eventually heals and that we have the power to change things for the better.

Being brave
Characters like Claudia and Pixie are brave as they confess to their own rotten behaviour.

Dealing with Separation and Divorce
It deals with a social phenomenon that many people are experiencing, the idea of a
divorce
as somehow horrible. Separation and divorce, and the events leading up to them,
interrupts the stability and predictability that children need.