I'll be the first to admit that at first, I was very unsure of the merits of this one. But, The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis by Barbara O'Connor seemed to be popping up during my book searching and library trolling again and again. And the book wasn't just getting good reviews. It was getting great reviews. Stellar reviews. Reviews that claimed that it must be read immediately and with joy and appreciation for its humor and quirkiness. So, I checked it out from the library.
The novel tells the story of Popeye, a boy living in the rural south who is having a truly uneventful summer. Uneventful that is, until Elvis arrives with his family, and the motor home where they all live gets stuck in the mud outside Popeye's house. Then the summer becomes one of adventure. A small adventure, as the title assures us, but adventure all the same.
There are a few things to know about this book, I suppose, if you are of a similar mind to my own when it comes to choosing books to read with your young folk. The kids in this book are not stunningly well behaved. Indeed, they run just a bit wild, and there are scenes of signficiant sibling roughhousing, references to kids who can swear like sailors, and the plot is pretty much driven by disobedience of adult edicts. That being said, I am most certainly planning to read this one with Mariam.
Why? Because it is really, really great, actually. It is well-written and heartwarming and funny and has a perfect ending. The kind of ending that makes your heart sing just a litle bit because it is so right and sweet, but without being sappy or overdone. I love that kind of ending. And, I suppose that there is something about the honesty of this book that I appreciate. It is true that sometimes we do things that we shouldn't, and that we kind of wish we hadn't. But is also true that sometimes those same things make our lives richer and more interesting. This business of being human is awfully complicated, and I like that this book provides an opportunity to talk about that a little bit without being heavy handed or overly serious. Life lessons light, if you know what I mean.
So, I do recommend this one. It's a fast read that I think boys in particular will appreciate, and I suspect the fact that it is a unique tale of small but transformative adventure will help it to find a place in many of your bookbags this summer.
