Book #78: What Hearts

Title: What Hearts
Author: Bruce Brooks

The disadvantage to reading a book on a Kindle is that the information that is easily accessible in a paper version of the book (the back cover, the author information page, etc...) is much harder to access on a Kindle. It's actually probably not that hard, I just don't know how to do it, so I don't. Anyway, I came to the end of What Hearts this morning and read that Bruce Brooks studied at the Iowa Writer's Workshop and a lightbulb went off in my head. Of course! This was absolutely a young adult novel written by a guy who attended the Iowa Writer's Workshop! If I'd read a paperback version of the novel, undoubtedly at some point in my reading I would have flipped to the back of the book and learned that bit of information, which seems a key factor in the book as a whole.

As I read What Hearts, I was struck by two things: the writing in the book was beautiful and thoughtful and carefully constructed, and it doesn't have a straightforward plot like most YA novels.  The novel begins on the last day of first grade, when Asa returns home to his mother, who tells him that they are leaving his father and moving to North Carolina with Dave, the man who will become Asa's stepfather. As soon as Asa meets Dave, he decides that Dave is not a nice man, and not a man who will appreciate Asa's superior intelligence. Over the next six years, Brooks shows us snippets of Asa's life, his new bedroom, a school play, a baseball game, all of which serve to highlight both Asa's inner life and his struggles with Dave. Ultimately, Asa must analyze the role that Dave has played in his life when Dave and Asa's mother divorce.

While the book is billed as a YA novel and was a Newbery Honor book, it feels more like an adult novel with a young protagonist. There's very little action in the book, and what action there is only tied loosely to the action in the preceding chapters. I don't think my fourth or fifth graders would like it very much. However, I liked the book a lot. I loved the writing and the way that Brooks took risks in what's expected from a YA book and came out with something that could be very emotionally satisfying. It reminded me of Cynthia Voight's Dicey's Song, although I think that Dicey's Song has enough action to keep a young reader hooked.