Bucking the Sarge

I don't know why this book did not win the Newbery Award this year. I do know that I will be thinking of Luther T. Farrell, his best friend Sparky and his "crew" for a long time. Luther is a bright thoughtful 15 year old with penchant for philosophers. His focus in life is to win the school science fair for the third year in a row. When not going to school he is thinking about Shayla, the love of his life since kindergarten. He works for (and also fears) his mother, known as "the Sarge." He must clean up her rental properties after the tenants been evicted and take care of his crew of elderly men who live in one of his mother's group homes. He shaves them, feeds them and cleans up after them. Luther's wry commentary and outlook on life infuse the story with humor and poignancy. Luther is fully aware of the Sarge's deficiencies as a parent and human being but he accepts his life because she is putting money for college into an account for him in payment for his work and afterall, she is his mom. He understands that his mother has traded in her humanity for financial success as a loan shark and slum lord but he is naive about lengths she will go to protect her empire. Christopher Paul Curtis creates the most likable characters. (I have always felt like Bud in Bud Not Buddy was one of the bravest kids I've ever met in a book.) Luther is another great character. He treats his crew with dignity and kindness. He is totally clueless when dealing with Shayla and his exchanges with his best friend Sparky will make you laugh out loud. Sparky's goal in life is to achieve an injury that will result a cash award from a personal injury lawsuit. His harebrained schemes are hilarious. As the story unwinds, the reader is routing for Luther to find a way out and hoping for a softening of the Sarge's heart. The ending of the book is neatly done. You will cheer. Michael Boatman's reading perfectly captures the voice and spirit of the story. I highly recommend this audio book and I agree with School Library Journal that this story would be best appreciated by readers grade 8 and up.

This is an excellent book. Parents and educators, however, should know that there are sexual themes that make it more appropriate for more mature readers. These themes make it a very different book from "Bud Not Buddy." Sexuality *is* dealt with in a fairly responsible manner--others have mentioned Luther's condom so at least he's thinking about having *safer* sex!--but it is still pretty frank. I wouldn't just hand this to any given fourth grader. Also Luther's mother and her boyfriend are *so* threatening to him that I think this book could be upsetting to children who are sensitive to stories about children who are emotionally abused by parents. (Although, that said, Curtis does a great job of explaining how Luther's mother came to be the way she is. Not to excuse her but she is a fully formed character.) Again, an excellent book, but one probably best for older or more mature children within the reading level.

As much as this book is similar to Bud, Not Buddy, it is just as different. It has a great protaganist. Mr. Curtis creates a strong character in Luther, and he has a well-portrayed friend, Sparky, with him. The situations between Bud, Not Buddy and this book are similar (both boys are escaping from something), but this book is geared more toward the YA crowd. The story itself kept me guessing for a while. I didn't know where Mr. Curtis was going to take the story. I was hooked. Luther and Sparky's adventures were funny, yet Luther's revelations were always interesting. The characters worked well together. Everything connected perfectly: from the Sarge's relationships with Luther and Darnell to Sparky and Luther and Chester X. Luther's story was funny and well written. I liked how the book was unpredictable. That made everything great. Mr. Curtis did a fine job with this. I loved this book, and I think many other readers will also like this.

Luther T. Farrell, philosopher and scientist, has a lot going for him in matters of the mind, but not so much when it comes to women. Women do nothing but complicate his life. First, there's beautiful and talented Shayla Patrick. Luther's relationship with Shayla would be perfect if it weren't for the fact that he and Shayla are rivals in the school science fair and are, well, sort of not dating. The other woman in Luther's life is his mother, better known as the Sarge. The Sarge, dispenser of advice and high-interest loans, is one of the richest women in Flint. She got where she is by milking the system ("If it's got nipples, I'm going to milk it," she says) and becoming a government hating slumlord. Luther knows the Sarge is crooked, but he does all he can to stay on her good side. When his gold-medal science fair project lands him in some serious hot water with the Sarge, Luther gets creative and joins forces with his loyal if slightly harebrained sidekick Sparky to put the Sarge in her rightful place. Readers of Christopher Paul Curtis's previous books, including THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM: 1963 and BUD, NOT BUDDY, will recognize Curtis's trademark humor and resilient characters. BUCKING THE SARGE, however, has a much darker tone and is serious through the laughter. Luther passes his fear of his ruthless mother onto the reader, but it is that fear that makes him reach inside himself and become someone strong, a character --- and a book --- worth cheering for. --- Reviewed by Carlie Webber

The nation's fifth and sixth grade teachers will return to school in September just in time to discover that Christopher Paul Curtis has forsaken them. BUCKING THE SARGE is not a book that they will be reading aloud to their students in the same way that thousands of them have been reading THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM, 1963 and BUD NOT BUDDY. But those of us who spend most of our time in the somewhat-older, YA world are gonna be doing some kind of badass NFL-style victory dance for having lured Christopher over to our side of the 'hood with his latest tale full of one-of-a-kind characters and occasional laugh-till-the-snot-and tears-pour-out situations. "I don't mean to say my boy is obsessed, but Sparky blames all our problems on the fact that we live in Flint. Yeah, I'm looking to get out someday myself, but this is one of those things that me and Sparky don't think alike on. But that's not his fault. My mind is trained in a different way than his. "I like to look at everything philosophically, and he doesn't. I've known since I was about six that thinking that way will get you what you need in life so I've been studying philosophical junk since then. "It gets a laugh every time I tell someone but by the time I'm twenty-one I plan on being America's best-known, best-loved, best-paid philosopher. And that's a job that there's gotta be a big demand for 'cause how many full-time, professional American philosophers can you think of? "I rest my case." Luther T. Farrell is a skinny, six-foot-four student at Whittier Middle School. He is actually fifteen, even though his driver's license says eighteen. Sparky is his best friend and foil. Luther is a success with science fair projects but less so with love (as evidenced by the well-aged condom in his wallet that he's named Chauncey). He quietly longs for romance with Shayla, the pretty and smart undertaker's daughter whom he's known forever. He's also big on making lists. Luther's mother, a.k.a. The Sarge, has him stretched between school and work. The Sarge is the loan-sharking, slum-lording, government reimbursement-sucking, ever-scamming operator of numerous sub-par establishments, including the Happy Neighbor Group Home for Men, where she's had Luther living with, caring for, and chauffeuring around the clients since he was thirteen. For a reasonably easy and often-funny read, BUCKING THE SARGE is also riddled with complexities and darkness. The Sarge and Darnell Dixon ("the Sarge's go-to guy and my boss and one of Flint's leading psychopath nut jobs") are a matched set of ticking time bombs. The Sarge's consistently despicable and cruel treatment of society's most vulnerable groups--children, the poor, the elderly--is topped off by the pair's gross brutality during their eviction of a family that includes one of Luther's classmates. When, at one point, Luther "[gets] up enough nerve to tell her that I was thinking about quitting working at the home and was probably gonna get a job at M