I HATE BOOKS!

A lad wanders off the path to literacy and almost doesn’t find his way back in this perceptive cautionary tale. Unlike his older brother Nathan, Hamish fails to pick up the reading knack before starting school, and thanks both to some ingenious concealing strategies and to the fact that he’s otherwise a good student, gets to third grade before any adult notices. Things quickly go from bad to worse when he’s consigned to a jail-like Book Room, where the “dummies” go for remedial instruction. Mutinously digging in his heels, Hamish fails to respond either to the reading teacher’s efforts, or to his parents’ clumsy attempts to change his attitude. Surrounded by well-meaning but ineffectual adults, Hamish puts up a stout defense that only crumbles when his admired brother comes up with an effective combination of tangible reward and a self-esteem-restoring show of vulnerability. Short chapters, simple language and lots of line drawings add up to plenty of appeal for less-practiced readers—but grown-ups too will find this a thought-provoking look inside the mind of a reluctant reader. (Fiction. 7-9)