Bobby Slater's World: An early 1960s summer ghost story
Author
Hugh Centerville
Publisher
CreateSpace
3 Review Copies Left
Summer, 1964 and for 13 year old Bobby Slater, 1 of those rich summer kids up on Baker Lake, it's idyllic - swimming, fishing, baseball, hiking the mountains around the lake, camping on the islands, but what Bobby wants is a girlfriend. Be careful what you wish for, Bobby. He gets his girlfriend, a local girl, an Indian cutie and it's 1 soda, 2 straws, foreheads touching, eyes lost in love. It's bliss except the girl is fickle. Sometimes she's sweet and funny, sometimes not and it's because she's living with a deadly 150 year old curse. Bobby will lead the fight against the Curse and he'll have help from people living and dead. He'll have his sisters and his loyal sidekick, best friend/cousin Joe, who spends summers with the family and Bobby will have a grumpy Indian war chief and the local gypsy fortune teller and from the other side there's Sophronia, the Indian girl's mom, dead 10 years, a victim of the Curse. Mostly, though, it's on Bobby Slater. Can he break down the barrier that divides the summer people from the locals? Can he bring them all together to save the girl?
Reviews
Bobby Slater's World An early 1960's summer ghost story is one of those books that is written for young readers but that adults can enjoy as a read as well. I found it an enjoyable book with a simple plot line, some suspense and a lot of heart. It seemed to be a pretty true to life portrayal of the life of a kid during a 60's summer when the worst thing to happen to them should be their favorite flavor of ice cream isn't in stock at the local store. But there is so much more to this book and that is why it is a winner.
Coming of age. We hear the phrase all the time but this is one time when a book nails it on the head without much work. The kids are portrayed in startling reality and the antics and actions are true to form as well. Although I must admit if a young reader were to compare their summers today, they would find them much different than Bobby's. His has no XBOX 360 or computer in sight yet Bobby and his friends still find fun in simple things such as hitting clots of dirt and fishing for dinner. Living in a cabin and enjoying the summer in a simple way most likely would not appeal to today's young teen but for Bobby and his friends, it is the only way they know to spend a summer. Perhaps if teens today spent their summers in such a fashion, they too would see the beauty and even the heartbreak that the simple life can give.
Growing up for anyone despite the generation is hard. Anyone who says it is easy is lying. We see the simplicity of first love go astray and we see how life can change in a heartbeat sometimes for the better and in Bobby's case, for the worst.
Of course what would a summer be for a pre-teen or a teen if a little suspense weren't added. Drama knows no age and this book has it's drama and suspense of spirits, curses and goose bump making moments that make the book a winner in it's own right.
13 year old Bobby is one of those "rich kids" that Baker Lake is flooded with during the summer with the locals not knowing if they are pleased with the extra income these kids and their families bring or wanting to be resistant to change of any sort. I personally would not want summer kids to break into my quiet idyllic life in a small lake community. I would want my solitary life to be just that, solitary. But the residents of Bakers Lake have no choice so they do what they feel is best to weather the summer until the summer kids leave. Some give in and deal with the change as we see very well and some fight it until the end. The startling differences in opinions about the visitors adds a layer of reality that few books can show, and a reality that I could relate to having come from a small town that was (and in some cases still is) reluctant to change it's way of life or alter for strangers how they live from day to day.
Though I once could not wait to leave such a town as the one by Baker Lake, I now feel a draw back to a small town, a town that truly welcomes newcomers and respects those who want to find the solace and quiet they so need in their lives.
In the book, Bobby wants what every full blooded teen age boy wants...a girlfriend but he gets more than he bargained for in a local Indian girl, cute as a button who bowls him over with her demeanor and beauty. Everything at first is fine, then he begins to notice changes in his girlfriend. At times she is sweet and at other times sour. She is an enigma to Bobby and he can't figure out what's what. It's no wonder. This beauty is no typical island beauty because she is living with a 150 year old curse. Ever the trouper, Bobby decides to help her break the curse and he enlists his sisters and friends to do so. Others will help as well but these individuals will not be as "normal" as Bobby and his teen friends as he soon discovers. It is a cliff hanger as to whether Bobby will be able to help his love, break down the wall between the locals and the summer people and most of all, can he convince them all to come together in order to help the girl.
A coming of age book to be sure, but more than that. This is a book that reminds those old enough of summers when life was simple and unfettered. It is a book that brings back in sharp detail what it's like to be a teen and feel like the most important thing in the world is to have a boyfriend or girlfriend.
I would recommend this book for readers of all ages. It would be an excellent book to read with your teen to get some conversation going about when you were a teen and how life has stayed the same and how it has changed in perhaps only 2 decades. It is a book that will leave an imprint on the reader and will create nostalgia that one felt would never return from their teen hood.
Despite the typos and mistakes that the publisher and editor could have easily discovered had it been proofed a bit more closely and remedied, this is a good book with an interesting read. Check out for yourself the summer life of Bobby, put yourself in his shoes and try to see if you'd make the same choices he made. I would bet the choices an adult would make today would be markedly different than if the reader was a teen. And perhaps the teen choices would be different as well. But you'll never know if you don't read the book. So check it out and see for yourself what summer vacation five decades ago was like for Bobby at Baker Lake.
Reviewed on 12/29/2010 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Susan Pettrone
