by James Hilton
Well, first of all, Mr. Chips is obviously going to be a chimpanzee. We can just get that out of the way right now. Having said that, you can plainly see that there is some sort of scholar on the cover, perhaps a student, perhaps a faculty member. I'm going to go out on a limb (kind of like a chimpanzee, they like going out on limbs) and say that this guy was going to school for zoology. He was assigned a chimp to work and study. That chimp was Mr. Chips. You're probably thinking that they named him Mr. Chips because he liked to eat potato chips. Well, he does like to eat potato chips, but that's not why they named him Mr. Chips. They named him Mr. Chips because he had a gambling addiction. In fact that is why the student, let's call him Dave, is studying Mr. Chips.
Over the course of the school year, Dave becomes terribly close to Mr. Chips but, sadly, cannot get Mr. Chips to overcome his gambling addiction. Dave becomes depressed as a result, not only because he cares a great deal for Mr. Chips and wants to see him beat his addiction, but also because his grade depends upon Mr. Chips' rehabilitation. When Mr. Chips sees how distraught Dave has become, he decides he should really try harder. "I'm sorry, Dave. I know this means a lot to you, so I'm really going to work at it this time," says Mr. Chips. Oh, did I not mention that Mr. Chips can talk? That's a pretty important detail, I guess. Anyway, Mr. Chips works hard and beats his gambling addiction just in time for Dave to finish up his final paper and graduate with honors. The two friends part ways at the book's end, but in an obvious set-up for a sequel, Mr. Chips gets on a bus and the destination sign on the bus switches over to "Atlantic City."
So that's pretty much how I see this book playing out. Let's see how close I get.
