Belle Prater's Boy

Every time I head home from school for a long weekend, I try to bang out a children's book or two. I figure the faster I get them finished, the faster I can eliminate such immature embarrassments from my backlog. In this very "might as well just get it over with" spirit, last night I began reading what was easily the kids' book I had the least interest with. I mean, can you blame me? Break tradition and judge this book by its cover for a minute. Doesn't it reek of "cheesy low-budget kids' movie from 1993?" Imagine my great surprise then when I realized that the book I was reading really wasn't all that bad. Belle Prater's Boy is set in 1950s Appalachia. The characters - two cousins, one of which is the narrator and the other being the titular character - speak in nice regional dialects that don't feel overdone. Shades of Tom Sawyer pop in here and there as the kids not only speak like the country bumpkin hicks they are but also get into a bit of mischief here and there. One thing that kept the book bearable was a steady flow of simple jokes and riddles. As far as plot goes, I'll try to summarize in a sentence or two. Belle Prater has one night decided to leave her entire life behind (including her son) to try to "find herself" (she has done this before). Her son moves in with his cousin "Gypsy" (wow) and the two become fast friends. Gypsy comes of age and eventually learns to cope with her father's sudden suicide many years before (something that is alluded to but never mentioned directly - nice work, author Ruth White). There's symbolism aplenty, as Gypsy decides to cut off all of her ass-length hair one night because she feels like, beautiful as it is, it's "hiding" the "real" her like a "veil." And Belle Prater never does come back, but it's cool, because her son has found a new home and family with his loving cousin. It may have been typical and standard, by all accounts, but Belle Prater's Boy was at the very least mildly enjoyable. I don't want to give it too much credit, but it might have been one of the best children's books I've logged yet. Of course, that just means it wasn't brutally awful. Ready for the irony? This book wasn't even a Newbery winner. See that medal on its cover? Turns out that's just the medal for being a Newbery "honor" book. In other words, it was only nominated for the "prestigious" award. My mistake. Oh well. Too late to unread it, and far too late to pretend it hasn't been sitting on my bookshelf for months now. Whatever. I've got 25 books left, and depending on how the weekend turns out, I could easily envision finishing another "coming of age" tale. I've got five of those (Newbery winners) left. That's right; I can count them on one hand. It's the final countdown.