Sprout

by Dale Peck

Overview

When Sprout and his father move from Long Island to Kansas after the death of his mother, he is sure he will find no friends, no love, no beauty. But friends find him, the strangeness of the landscape fascinates him, and when love shows up in an unexpected place, it proves impossible to hold. An incredible, literary story of a boy who knows he's gay, and the town that seems to have no place for him to hide.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781599906249
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	10/26/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	891,833
Lexile:	990L (what's this?)
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	14 Years

About the Author

Dale Peck is the author of Drift House and The Lost Cities for middle grade readers; for adults he's written award-winning novels including the highly acclaimed Martin and John, a book of essays and a memoir. He is currently working on a sci-fi thriller with Heroes creator Tim Kring. This is his first book for teens.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 9 Up

Daniel "Sprout" Bradford, 16, does a lot of his thinking out loud, speaking directly to readers in a wisecracking voice about the differences between Long Island, where he used to live, and Kansas, where he and his dad live now. He also shares his thoughts about secrets, lies, friendship, and love. He'd be the first to tell you that he's gay and his hair is dyed green. With encouragement from his hard-drinking English teacher (and benign neglect from his hard-drinking father), the teen navigates the hallways of "uptight" Buhler High with Ruthie, Ian, and Ty, and prepares for an essay contest in Topeka. His advanced vocabulary and esoteric references to Samson, fucate objects, Guns & Ammo , the Borg cube, and a double-entendre on Cumbria will intrigue readers who enjoyed Lemony Snicket's built-in definitions in their younger years. Sprout's wiseacre voice is often very funny and tinged with irony. The flawed adults seem a little unrealistic. The physical scenes are not overly detailed, though the teen's word choices can be a little crude. He will sometimes interrupt a passage that might be getting a little intimate by instructing readers to "Get your mind out of the gutter," or noting, "I'm not going to tell you what we did exactly, but there were a lot of giggles and a couple of ouches." At heart, this is the story of a boy looking for love, all the while knowing that the storybook "happily ever after" isn't going to apply to him.-Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX

School Library Journal

When he was twelve, Daniel's dad packed the two of them up and moved from New York to Buhler, Kan. Daniel embraced his outsider status with the help of best friend Ruthie, dyed his hair green and accepted the nickname "Sprout." The summer before his junior year, English teacher Mrs. Miller coaches him for a statewide essay contest; in prepping, Sprout begins to acknowledge his secrets (both public and private). Everyone knows his dad is an eccentric alcoholic and that his mother died of cancer in New York. Everyone suspects Sprout is gay, but no one imagines his purely sexual relationship with school hunk Ian. When Ty, the damaged son of a Timothy McVeigh-loving nut, enters Sprout's life, everything gets shaken up. Peck's first aimed squarely at the YA audience is, at times, charming. Sprout's narrative voice is strong and realistic, and his observations are entertaining. As a whole, though, there're just too many issues. Add to the above: dating parent, teen pregnancy, betrayals of and by friends. Dedicated readers, especially young gays in the square states, will identify-and it's important enough for that reason. (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Reviews

“Sprout's narrative voice is strong and realistic, and his observations are entertaining.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A stellar step ahead for young adult literature's traditional examination of the life of the heroic antihero.” —VOYA

“Structurally effective, caustically entertaining, unpreachy, and thought-provoking.” —The Horn Book

“Sprout's wiseacre voice is often very funny and tinged with irony....At heart, this story is the story of a boy looking for love, all the while knowing that the storybook "happily ever after" isn't going to apply to him.” —School Library Journal

From the Publisher