Jim the boy, the book

Jim the boy by Tony Earley was the 9th annual All Of Rochester Reads book sponsored by Writers and Books in Rochester, NY. It was the pick so I read it.

If you like Lassie and Old Yellow, you will probably like this book, but while I read the whole book, it leaves me a little flat.

It is the story about a 10 year old boy, Jim Glass, who is growing up in 1934 in North Carolina during the depression on a farm. His father has died and he is being raised by his mother and his three maternal uncles. I found the story trite and cliched. It is a coming of age story and Jim has the usual struggles of selfishness, and laziness. He is blessed by the attention of the 3 uncles which is interesting and seems very foreign in our current culture.

The creative tension in the story comes more from Jim's relationships with his peers and his spooky paternal grandfather who is a "mountain man".

I suppose if you like The Waltons and Little House on The Prairie you might like this book, but other wise I don't particularly recommend it.

You can learn more about the book from the Amazon Web Site by clicking here or the Writers and Books web site by clicking here.