Judging the Cybils Book Awards is quite the adventure. The excitement starts in August when I apply
to be a judge. It is an honor to be chosen.
Then the waiting starts. Which
books will be nominated? How many have I
already read? The lists start appearing. Yay, I read that one. I have no idea what that book is. Next it is “Oh my god! What have I done? I can never read all these!” Short lists are started, revised, revised,
revised. Discussions start, and finally
the BIG chat about what we will send on to the final judges. (For the record that job sounds WAY TOO
stressful!)
Through the whole process I am reading books that I can
share with students. Every year I end up shortlisting books I have never heard
about. This alone makes it worth the experience. One standout this year is Four Mile by Watt Key. Foster is a twelve year old that lost his father to a
fatal accident on their farm. His mother
starts dating a lowlife named Dax.
Foster knows the guy is bad news, but doesn’t have much control in what
happens. Foster’s anger towards Dax is
understandable, but not always controllable.
In one of their fights Foster smashes the windshield on Dax’s truck. He must paint the fence along the property to
pay for the damage. It is here that
Foster meets Gary, an Iraqi war vet wander the country. This chance meeting changes everything.
Four Mile is gritty.
It is everywhere in the book.
This grittiness is what makes this book stand out. The sorrow that Foster and his mom are
feeling is dark and gritty. The
relationships with Dax are stressful for the characters and the reader. The secrets that Gary carries are
unnerving. I had trouble putting down
this book. At the end I immediately
thought about what Foster will be like as an adult. These are just some of the reasons why it was
easy for our group to shortlist Four Mile by Watt Key for the Cybils’
shortlist.
It is definitely a high middle grade book. Given the theme I would say 5th
grade to 8th grade.
KINDOF SPOILER ALERT:
DOG ON THE COVER!
3 comments:
I wanted to read this one after you talked about it yesterday. I still do, but that dog on the cover thing has me worried. Am I going to cry?
Still love this one. If you would like, come and join the Guy Friday group over at my blog. I’m trying to get more people to read and review books that boys would like, but it’s always best to have links to reviews by ACTUAL guys! (And I have a dog book posted, too!)
This one looks great. I have a few boys at school that would love this story.
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