Bucking the Sarge

Starred review from July 19, 2004
Curtis (Bud, Not Buddy
; The Watsons Go to Birmingham
) invites readers to visit present-day Flint, Mich., and to meet one of its wealthiest 15-year-olds, Luther T. Farrell. From the outside, narrator Luther's life might seem enviable. He drives a luxury vehicle, using a "for-real, honest-to-God, straight from the Secretary of State phony driver's license" that says he's 18. His education fund is worth $92,510 and he's a top student on his way to becoming the winner of the Whittier Middle School science fair for the third consecutive year. The down side: Luther is constantly kept under the thumb of his hyperstrict mother, "the Sarge," a woman who has lied, cheated and extorted her way to "own half the ghetto." When not in school, Luther is put in charge of doing the Sarge's dirty work, cleaning out the rat-infested apartments of evicted tenants and taking care of the elderly residents at the adult rehabilitation center owned by his mother. Happiness and independence seem out of Luther's reach until he devises a way to "buck" the Sarge the same way she has "bucked" the system. The hero's sense of humor and his interest in philosophy bring levity to Luther's bleak trappings. Featuring characters so lively they seem to jump off the page and a gratifying resolution in which all characters get their comeuppance, this vibrant modern-day battle between greed and morality proves that there is more than one way to come out on top. Ages 10-up.

March 1, 2005
Gr 8 Up -Luther T. Farrell is not like most other 15-year-olds living in Flint, Michigan. While he's working hard to win the school science fair for the third year, he is also in charge of one of his mother's group homes and that includes driving the men to rehab and cleaning them up after bathroom accidents. Luther and his mom, a.k.a. Sarge, are financially well off because she's also a slumlord and a loan shark, but the eighth grader is uncomfortable with his life. Christopher Paul Curtis's novel (Wendy Lamb Books, 2004) recounts how this often philosophical youth decides to do what's right and turns the tables on his mother. Luther's best friend Sparky, Shayala his heart's desire, and a wise elderly resident of the group home add humor, wisdom, and a bit of romance to this story that mixes comedy and questions about morality. Michael Boatman's narration has the breezy bounce of inner-city youth, but he also captures the serious undertone of the story. The sound quality is good, and a bit of music adds a hip beat to the opening and closing of the recording. There are a few wacky subplots and some funky characters, but both urban and suburban listeners will connect with the teen appropriate dialogue and admire the way Luther emerges victorious after making tough choices. -"Barbara Wysocki, Cora J. Belden Library, Rocky Hill, CT"

Copyright 2005 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2005
"If you look at just the words you might not understand their real meaning, you might not see what was really happening," muses Luther T. Farrell, fifteen, this book's unlikely hero. Those listening to Boatman's rendition of Luther's story will not have that problem: every ounce of humor, every small epiphany, every regret is audible in his depiction of a young man whose moral compass inexorably returns to true north despite -- or perhaps because of -- his own morally bankrupt mother. So engrossing is this performance, listeners will barely notice when the plot (occasionally) takes a misstep. This richly textured performance suits both Curtis's multilayered character development and the elliptical nature of the narrative.

(Copyright 2005 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)