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This book has a special place in my heart because it gives a voice to the many young people who are trying to figure out where they fit in the world, the students who are smart but don't realize how intelligent they are. And the main character, Eddie Corazon, is a sharp, witty, wise bad-ass philosopher and poet. If you read this book and don't like it, let me know and I'll write you a different book! Here's how Eddie's story begins: I seen Miss Beecher today at the library checking out a old lady’s book. She had her head tipped down so I couldn’t see her face real good but I knew it was Beecher on account of her hair is the exact same color as a car I stole once. Bronze metallic. Beecher doesn’t look like a regular librarian but she at least she didn’t look like she was falling off a cliff the way she did most of the time back when she was trying to be a teacher. I didn’t go all the way inside the library, just stood in the doorway waiting for Letty and Juanito to finish listening to the story lady, but Juanito saw me and he yelled, “Eddie!” I quick looked at Beecher to see if she heard Juanito holler my name because if Beecher looked at me, then I would nod, maybe say, “Hey, how’s it going.” But she was busy helping another old lady find her library card so I ducked out. First time I saw Beecher, I thought, oh great another one of those Peace Corps people with their organic shoes and their tofu sandwiches and their posters showing how important it is to save the whales and the rain forests and the baby seals and me and all the other semi-literate at-risk underprivileged economically deprived youth at the alt school who don’t really give a shit about getting an education because what difference would it make if we did. We’d still be us. We’d still be freaks and losers except we’d be freaks and losers with educations, so we’d understand exactly what we couldn’t have." |
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