We had a wonderful holiday pot luck feast at our last meeting, and
although we were all very full, a great discussion of Thunder Boy Jr.
by Sherman Alexie; illus. by Yuyi Morales. Several people loved it, a few
did not. A couple of readers felt the story was very disjointed, and didn't
really say much. Others loved the fact that Thunder Boy Jr. wanted his
own name, and although he loved his strong, powerful dad, he needed his own
identity. As he went through various possibilities of names based upon things he
was really good at, he was finally happy when his dad actually gave him his
new name, Lightning, because then they could be strong and powerful
together. Several readers thought that there were just too many possible name
choices, and got tired of reading about them. Others felt it was fine, because
it provided a good picture of who the little boy really 'was'. Most of us really
liked the illustrations, but a couple of folks weren't thrilled with them. We
weren't sure how young readers would respond to the book, but one of our
members, a school librarian, informed us that when she read it to kids in her
school, they liked it, and they responded in different ways according to their
ages. So....mixed feelings all around, and contented, full, tired people heading
home later than usual from a book group meeting.
