A.C.E. Bauer

I found this book browsing the Teen section of my public library, liked the cover and blurb, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked the five very different characters and how they came together in a middle school setting. Salman Page is a foster child who has been moved often. Now 14, he's learned to keep his head down and not get involved. Lu Zimmer is a wallflower whose best friend has just moved away. But she's excited to be a D.B., a designated buddy, at her Junior High, helping a new, younger student feel welcomed. She is assigned to Salman. Blos Peacse (what a name!) needs everything to be just so - structured and timely. He has Asperger's syndrome and no friends. Puck, the Faerie messenger, is caught between the King & Queen, required to serve both, but fearful of angering either one. Bird, a crow, brings them all together.

Salman, Lu and Bos become a trio of misfits at school and over time become fast friends. I like Salman because, despite his difficult life, he makes the best of things and is truly kind. He welcomes Bos as a friend immediately because he knows he's honest and solid in the real world. It takes Lu longer to accept and return Blos' friendship, but she is good to him.

Bauer inserts 3 essays that Salman write for his English class. He reveals himself in them. At the end, Lu writes a news article for the school paper about being a D.B. and Blos photographs Lu and Salman for the article.

A thoughtful, at times dreamy read. It is based loosely on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Salman Page is broadened from a page boy who was a point of discord between the King & Queen of Faery, but who never appeared in the play. Bauer always wondered what happened to these boys, so she created the character and wrote the story around him.… (mais)

The author has a cool premise--developing a character around the changeling boy who is the focus of the disagreement between Oberon and Titania in Shakespeare's [b:A Midsummer Night's Dream|1622|A Midsummer Night's Dream|William Shakespeare|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327874534s/1622.jpg|894834]. The story recounts the gentle growth of a bond between three middle school outsiders: a boy with Aspergers, a girl whose best friend has moved away, and a boy at his eleventh different school in one year. The characters are sympathetic, the school setting is realistic (strange to say, in a book inspired by a fairy tale!), and the writing is a pleasure to read. But the fantasy elements are so subtle, you might blink and miss them. Had I been a middle school reader looking for a fantasy, I would probably have felt a bit cheated. In a way, the Shakespearean backstory merely provides a reason for the characters' problems; magic it has little to do with the story's resolution. Most middle schoolers will be unfamiliar with Titania and Oberon anyway--drop out the bits told from Puck's point-of-view, and you have a good, strong realistic story.… (mais)

I really, really wanted to like this book. A modern retelling of the epic of Gigamesh? What a neat idea! I teach sixth grade social studies (ancient history to the Renaissance) and am always looking for ways to bring the older stories to life for my students. I hadn't run into any modern versions of this story yet, and was pretty excited. Initially the novel did have promise, but it never truly delivered on it.

For one thing, I never felt as if I really connected to the characters. I didn't find myself really caring all that much about either Gil or Enko or what was going to happen to them. For the most part I kept reading because at first hoped it would get better and later on I figured well, I've gotten this far, so I might as well soldier on...and then, bam! It was over. Can you say anticlimactic? It really didn't leave the reader with a sense of completion, and Gil definitely doesn't reach anything near the epiphany that the original character in the epic does.

Another aspect of the book that I wasn't crazy about was the style of writing. There were far too many short, choppy sentences within short, choppy chapters. One thing I did like, though, was the sprinkling of French Canadian throughout--that was pretty neat, and Gil's attempts to pronounce them (cleverly showing the reader how to say a lot of the phrases) was a nice touch. And how many books have characters enjoying poutine in them? Not nearly enough! (Yes, it does sound and look pretty gross. But oh my goodness, it is delicious! Its inclusion alone is almost worth two stars!)

In all, it was an okay read and one I have already mentioned to my classes. It definitely won't go in my "to be re-read" pile, though.… (mais)