Contemporary teens living on opposite sides of Canada develop a close relationship as they correspond by snail mail. When 17-year-old Sween in Saskatchewan responds to a newspaper ad, he receives a letter from 16-year-old Jess in New Brunswick who’s looking for her missing father. The two lonely teens are soon writing letters and gradually a friendship forms. Sween’s letters fill Jess “with a good kind of light,” while Sween feels Jess is his “old bud.” Lacking focus, Sween resents his parents, is kicked out of his school and his home and suffers a breakdown. An ace student trying hard to earn a university scholarship, Jess must cope with an autistic brother, a fragile mother and a manipulative, conning father who threatens to send her brother away to a special school. While their personal lives fall apart, the letters keep them going. As their relationship intensifies, Sween and Jess inevitably must meet, but with surprising consequences. In an age of instant messaging and e-mails, this tender epistolary novel tells a timeless story about the shaping of a friendship. (Fiction. 13-18)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-88899-750-0
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2007
Big brother Duane is off in boot camp, and Justin is left trying to hold the parental units together. Fat, acne-ridden, and missing his best friend Ben, who’s in the throes of his first boy-girl relationship with Cass, Justin’s world is dreary. It gets worse when he realizes that all of his mother’s suspicions about his father are probably true, and that Dad may not return from his latest business trip. Surprisingly ultra-cool Jemmie, who is also missing her best friend, Cass, actually recognizes his existence and her grandmother invites Justin to use their piano in the afternoons when Jemmie’s at cross-country practice. The “big nothing” place, where Justin retreats in time of trouble, is a rhythmic world and soon begins to include melody and provide Justin with a place to express himself. Practice and discipline accompany this gradual exploration of his talent. The impending war in Iraq gives this story a definite place in time, and its distinct characters make it satisfying and surprisingly realistic. Misfit finds fit. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2004
ISBN: 1-56145-326-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2004
There is something profoundly elemental going on in Smalls’s book: the capturing of a moment of unmediated joy. It’s not melodramatic, but just a Saturday in which an African-American father and son immerse themselves in each other’s company when the woman of the house is away. Putting first things first, they tidy up the house, with an unheralded sense of purpose motivating their actions: “Then we clean, clean, clean the windows,/wipe, wipe, wash them right./My dad shines in the windows’ light.” When their work is done, they head for the park for some batting practice, then to the movies where the boy gets to choose between films. After a snack, they work their way homeward, racing each other, doing a dance step or two, then “Dad takes my hand and slows down./I understand, and we slow down./It’s a long, long walk./We have a quiet talk and smile.” Smalls treats the material without pretense, leaving it guileless and thus accessible to readers. Hays’s artwork is wistful and idyllic, just as this day is for one small boy. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-316-79899-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
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