BENNY THE MISFIT

by Hila Colman ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 21, 1973

Unlike his parents and his older sister, eleven year-old Benny isn't into causes -- his passion is baseball. His family finds this disturbing and in the misguided liberal tradition of the parents in End of the Game (KR, 1971) they volunteer to have him bussed to an inner city school. Benny makes friends (rather facilely, perhaps) and joins a neighborhood baseball team; he likes the people (black and Puerto Rican, and much nicer than his own family, though not all paragons of virtue) and comes to believe that they have a right to more say than the planning commission (under the auspices of Benny's father) gives them. The showdown comes when the commission decides to put a concrete park on the lot where the boys play baseball, the neighborhood slowly gathers in support of the boys and after tense confrontations, including some Benny faces at home, the neighborhood wins. Benny's family are super stereotypes and so are some of the other adults; the kids are better, but all have their predetermined roles to play in Colman's latest staged sociodrama.

Pub Date: May 21, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: T. Y. Crowell

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1973

Categories: FICTION