Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends.
Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.Īutumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart their mothers are still best friends. Less intense than Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes (Greenwillow, 1993), this is still strong enough to carry its messages with reasonable ease. As always, Crutcher tells a potent, well-knit story, with moments both horrific and hilarious, and a cathartic but not unrealistic ending. Bo is surrounded by a colorful array of sages (including Lion Serbousek, baddest of the bad in Stotan!, Greenwillow, 1986, and now, ironically, a school counsellor who is gay), jerks and journeymen adults with damaged souls-most of whom are groping their way toward maturity. Crutcher's background as a family therapist comes out on nearly every page here, as Bo writes analytical letters to talk-show royalty Larry King, conversations within the group become confessions, and the presiding teacher-cast as a drawling Texan ex-bronco rider of Japanese descent-dispenses perceptive comments about anger, fear and self-knowledge. As both personal test and statement, he also begins to train intensively for Yukon Jack's Eastern Washington Invitational Scab- Land Triathlon.
Bo Brewster has already taken years of bullying from his father when his football coach/English teacher tries the same tactics, Bo leaves the team, blows up in class, and winds up forced to join an early morning anger management group to stay in school.
A teenager holds the moral high ground, but doesn't know what to do there until wise advice sets him straight.
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