Pay It Forward (novel)

Pay It Forward is a novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde, released in 1999 which was adapted into the motion picture Pay It Forward which released theatrically and to DVD in 2000–2001.

Plot summary

When twelve-year-old Trevor McKinney begins eighth grade in Atascadero, California, his social studies teacher gives the class an assignment to devise and put into action a plan that will change the world for the better. Trevor's plan is a charitable program based on the networking of good deeds. He calls his plan "Pay It Forward", which means the recipient of a favor does a favor for three others rather than paying the favor back. However, it needs to be a major favor that the receiver can't complete themselves. The novel details how Trevor's Pay It Forward attempts are successful or not successful and how some of the "Pay It Forward" chains result in attracting the attention of a reporter, Trevor meeting the President, and Trevor's untimely death.

Since then, the novel has been translated into twenty languages for publication in more than thirty countries and was chosen among the Best Books for Young Adults in 2001 by the American Library Association.

Differences from the film

The primary differences are setting and character related. Instead of the mother being a down-and-out recovering alcoholic in Las Vegas, Nevada, the original story was based in Atascadero, California, a city not far from where Catherine Ryan Hyde resides.

The teacher's burns, instead of being inflicted as a heinous crime by his father, are the result of napalm wounds suffered during service during presumably the Vietnam War. Trevor's discovery comes from a different source (dropping crime rates in one of the state prisons) and that Trevor's story draws enough notoriety that he gets to meet the President of the United States before his untimely demise in the Washington, DC area. The conclusion of the book draws from Arlene McKinney and Mr. St. Clair's continuing relationship and an act of their own Paying it Forward.

Finally, the character Eugene Simonet (whose original name was Reuben St. Clair) was African American in the novel; however, he was portrayed by Kevin Spacey, a white man, in the film.