*or, My salad days when I was green in judgment.
By Dale Peck, 2009.
Sprout Bradford has secrets, and not that he’s gay either. (Isn’t it nice when that’s not the big secret that drives the entire narrative?) He’ll admit that his mom is dead, that his dad’s an alcoholic, and that his alcoholic writing coach/teacher is dating his alcoholic dad. Formerly of Long Island, NY, Sprout lives with his father in Hutchinson, Kansas (population, 65) in a trailer surrounded by upturned stumps and vines of varying degrees of poisonousness and has had green hair for over half of his life. His Dad lets him use the car on Saturdays. He also carries a dictionary nearly everywhere and is constantly using words usually left out of regular conversation. And then there are those janitor’s closet moments…
Hilariously quirky and still complex, Sprout contains a delicious mix of sweetness and sorrow from first loves and carving a life out of what you’ve been dealt. I like how Peck deals with serious issues in a way that keeps characters from being passive victims. There are also healthy doses of humour and literary references as Sprout is preparing for the state essay competition, though I was never bothered much by not fully understanding everything Sprout says as nobody else really does either.
