Adolescence

An eleven year old boy is sent to stay on his aunt and uncles farm for a summer, escaping a troubled home life. Harris is his daredevil cousin who constantly leads him astray. Great for boys aged 10 plus, descriptive and well told. ( )

Banned Book Week! Time to read some banned books. First up is this curious little item from the mid-90s, challenged apparently for its language.

A nameless 11-year-old narrator is passed from relative to relative in the 1950s (Probably? Reference is made to a 1949 truck.) because his parents are a pair of hopeless drunks. The latest stop is a farm in Minnesota (Probably? There is reference to someone going 150 miles west to North Dakota.) where we are introduced to Harris, the poster child for The Dangerous Book for Boys. The book flap references Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, and like them, Harris is chock full of mischief, willfulness and life-threatening plans for play that would probably make helicopter parents faint at the mere thought of them. He drops racist references to Japanese people as casually as Huck used the N-word. Harris also uses the word "damn" liberally, which I guess some people find offensive? And there are references to nudie pics.

So, should it be banned? No. Might it be inappropriate for young readers? Um, yeah. If I were reading it to a child, I'd feel obliged to have a lot of side discussions to put a lot of things into context of the historical framework.

But, hey, I'm an adult, and I grew up on a farm that was testosterone heavy with two older brothers, a father and a live-in uncle and had my own share of stupidly dangerous episodes of play and work, as well as exposure to racism, profanity, and pornography, so it was pretty easy to relate.

The hijinks are amusing enough in their boys-will-be-boys way with plenty of groin-injuring slapstick. The ending, like the setting and protagonist's name, seems needlessly vague, but its acceptable enough in its what-do-you-think-happened-next way that depends entirely on if you are in a good or bad mood when you finish the book. ( )

I read this book several times in my youth. I cherished it. Harris is what every American boy should have the chance to be. Free. Full of wonder. Full of an explorers spirit. Harris' exuberance towards life experiences make for an occasionally risky situations, but his father's strong hand always brought him back to reason.

Paulsen exposes youthful readers to subtle new forms and style of writing. "Me" becomes our lens, we jump into the pages becoming "Me" and get to experience Harris first-hand. I'm glad we never learn Me's real name.

I like to think I partly grew up on my Grandfather's farm, through my bi-annual visits and holiday stays. There is nothing like being young, and having a large swath of land to explore - to run amok upon.

I revisit this time-capsule of a book when I need to remember young freedom. Every kid should have a farm to explore and every kid should read this book before they grow up - and learn the true meaning of the word 'responsibility.'

This book is an American gem. ( )

A young boy of eleven spends the summer at the farm of a distant cousin, and finds himself repeatedly in trouble, at the instigation of nine year old Harris. Very funny, and an enjoyable read. ( )