From: Dr. Ruth I. Gordon <druthgo>
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 13:01:16 -0800

Dear CCBCers: Much as I hate to key board, I'll try. And yes, it is, indeed, raining.

Spinelli's sub-title on the dust jacket tells much of the story in this powerful novel: "Not all birthdays are welcome". At 10, boys in Palmer LaRue's town are expected to join in the yearly celebration which features a pigeon shoot. Boys, ten and older are assigned to wring the necks of birds who are wounded--a bloody manhood rite. Most look forward to the blood-thirsty day with an anticipation that is almost sexual in nature; Palmer, on the edge of 10, does not want to participate although he wants to be accepted by his friends, especially Beans, the leader of the pack. In its own way, the descriptions and actions are reminiscent of Jackson's
"The Lottery." Palmer's fear and hatred of the event causes him to run from his friends, ambivalent about them and the many cruel, senseless acts they wreak on people, animals, and objects.

The moral dilemma in which Palmer is thrust is gripping and its eventual solution, reasonable. As Robert Cormier's novels are powerful and moral, so is Spinelli's tense and thoughtful book. There is much more in it than violence; there is also a character who fights against the system at great cost to himself. But that is usually the way when people choose a road other than the expected ritualistic one.

 Grandma

================="You may not be able to change the world, but at least you can embarrass the guilty." Jessica Mitford (191796)
Received on Tue 10 Feb 1998 03:01:16 PM CST