Under the Watsons' Porch came highly recommended (by my 12-year-old) so I was anxious to read it, hoping to get a read on - well, a lot of things. Why she liked it, for one.
The Random House title written by Susan Shreve brought back some memories, pushing me somewhat reluctantly to recall how uneasy and unpleasant one can feel just being 12. In fact, what I remember most about being 12 was how badly I wanted to be 13.
The Watsons' story is a rather simple one: good girl meets mildly bad boy, and they get into some mild trouble together. The good and bad thing about the book, IMHO, is that it's too mild. Bad boy Tommy Bowers isn't nearly as bad as his neighborhood reputation. Shoplifting a couple of bags of lollipops and sneaking into an R-rated movie after purchasing a ticket for a PG-rated film is about the extent of his crimes. Good girl Ellie Tremont lies to cover a few of her and Tommy's escapades, but otherwise, she's good through and through. I found the supporting cast rather one-dimensional, too.
One-dimensional characters in "too mild" stories don't make great fiction, folks, but if ten-to-thirteen year olds like it, this mama is happy. Why? There's an abundance of books (including a few on our "to-read" shelf) dealing with suicide, mutilation, rape, drugs, and, and, and - and I'm referring only to the teen-lit books on our shelf!
My daughter said she liked Watsons' because it was a "romance," and frankly, folks, if the story fills her romantic interests at this point I say, "yippee!"
Still, in defense of (good) teen lit, I must say I'm still not a fan of Watsons'. There are lots of titles that are just as mild in their treatment of sex, drugs, and other stuff we don't want our 10-to-13-year-olds to read about, but that have better characters, and greater impact. For that reason, Under the Watsons' Porch won't earn a spot on my shelf. Unless you're hard up for reading matter, I suggest you skip it.
On the other hand, there's Rules of the Road... which I've only just begun, and therefore won't attempt to review. Let's just say I'm already making room on my shelf already so I can keep it around. It was recommended to me by the very fine writer Marsha McGregor. By page two, I had a revelation: when a writer recommends a book, it's probably a really good one. (Thanks, Marsha.) More on Rules of the Road later.
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