Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Yesterday got away from me, but I have to review Lisa Fipps’ And Then, Boom!–it’s a ‘Battle of the Books’ title this year, and my 5th grader is waiting on it. (Interestingly enough, it’s Fipps’ second book, and her first book was a BotB title when my current 8th grader was in 5th grade. I still remember going to ask him to take the garbage out and finding him under his bed, almost done with Starfish; he looked at me and said ‘no! I’m reading!’ Which is not so common of an occurrence with him.) She’s sort of patient, yes–but also sort of not.

Back when Fipps’ first book came out, I had my older girls read it after my son and I were done; one of them commented that ‘that book was so good, it hurt.’ It was a pretty accurate assessment. The thing about And Then, Boom!, is that it’s the same kind of thing, but on steroids. (So to speak.) I don’t think my girlie will find it as heartwrenching as I did–parenthood does things to you–but she’s still going to be feeling the feels.

And Then, Boom! is the story of Joe Oak, who mostly lives with his grandmum (she’s from England), since his mom always gets the ‘Itch’ sooner or later and takes off for increasingly long periods of time. There’s never enough money–or food–for him and Grandmum, but there is plenty of love, and they make a good team. Unfortunately, life’s ‘boom!’s keep happening to Joe, and the harder they hit, the harder his life gets. Thankfully, the book ends as happily as is realistically possible, but my heart broke for Joe several times over before we got there. And Then, Boom! is an accessible-for-middle-graders story of poverty, occasional homelessness, and hunger; it’s also a story of friendship and some incredible adults. I wish every kid with Joe’s struggles could also have his support system.

I also wish every kid with those struggles could end up in as good of a situation as he does. This book is indeed ‘so good it hurts.’