What is the author's style in Smiles to Go by Jerry Spinelli?

The story is told from the first person and past tense point of view. The perspective is that of protagonist and narrator Will Tuppence who introduces the narrative with a brief prologue that essentially sets up why the rest of the narrative, and the events it portrays, are so important to him. From that point on, the action of the book is placed within the context of the moment in which he discovers that the fundamental truths he comes to believe in in that prologue, about himself and about existence in general, are essentially broken down into nothing. In other words, his narrative point of view is that of a young man struggling to redefine himself after being blindsided by the revelation that a fundamental truth of his identity is, in fact, a misconception.

The novel's structure is fundamentally linear and straightforward, traditional and almost archetypal. Event follows event, cause follows effect, action follows reaction, energy and feeling build on energy and feeling towards a climax, or point of highest emotional intensity - in this case, the crisis of feeling and belief that surges in Will in the aftermath of Tabby's accident.