The year is 1969 and Bowser is locked up inside The Hill, a juvenile detention facility. Bowser makes friends reluctantly with some of the other boys there: Evan, Babybird, Snicklesnort. However, it is a chance encounter with Nose, one of the Balck inmates, that changes Bowser most and puts him at odds with the white inmates and some of those who supervise the teens. Seldom have I encountered main characters with whom I have not a thing in common and little sympathy to boot. These are teens who almost set themselves up for failure and for rejection. And yet there is something about Bowser and Nose that connects, that makes me root for them to overcome the almost impossible odds stacked against them. Debut novelist Brown has crafted a story that twists and turns on itself. Backgrounds are revealed bit by tortured bit until readers come to understand why Bowser and Nose and the others behave the way they do. There are some adults so corrupt that one feels as if the deck is stacked way too unevenly. However, there is always hope of some sort, a thin light at times, that leads the boys to safety.
warm at last, warm at last...
The year is 1969 and Bowser is locked up inside The Hill, a juvenile detention facility. Bowser makes friends reluctantly with some of the other boys there: Evan, Babybird, Snicklesnort. However, it is a chance encounter with Nose, one of the Balck inmates, that changes Bowser most and puts him at odds with the white inmates and some of those who supervise the teens. Seldom have I encountered main characters with whom I have not a thing in common and little sympathy to boot. These are teens who almost set themselves up for failure and for rejection. And yet there is something about Bowser and Nose that connects, that makes me root for them to overcome the almost impossible odds stacked against them. Debut novelist Brown has crafted a story that twists and turns on itself. Backgrounds are revealed bit by tortured bit until readers come to understand why Bowser and Nose and the others behave the way they do. There are some adults so corrupt that one feels as if the deck is stacked way too unevenly. However, there is always hope of some sort, a thin light at times, that leads the boys to safety.
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News we can use
It is always nice to see a headline declaring problems with CCSS. Here is one from Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post:…
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summer has arrived
It is near triple digits today. Good day to stay inside and read. Just what I did, too. HOW TO STEAL A CAR by Pete Hautman (Scholastic, 2009)…
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it's just brilliant
Okay, so the cover seems to scream CHICK-LIT. And it is a girl book. But is defies the limits of what some term those "pink" books with its…
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