COMFORT

Freshman Kenny Willson’ s alcoholic father is coming home from prison just as Kenny has been saving money to leave small-town Comfort, Texas, where his verbally and physically abusive Mama runs a dive café and dreams of turning Kenny’s father into a country singing star. Already forced to give up two of his loves—football and band—to slave away in the restaurant, Kenny’s only chance of earning enough money is through writing and interpretative oral poetry competitions in the University Interscholastic League. Even this opportunity is shattered when his mother demands that he quit school to work full time in the café. This becomes one of many broken dreams within his dysfunctional family. But when Kenny finds the power of words, particularly in poetry, and stands up to Mama, he may have a shot at a more normal teenage life. First-time author Dean offers a realistic milieu in which Kenny teeters back and forth in loving and loathing his family, though the plot edges toward soap opera. Kenny’s crude grammar full of “ain’ts” in his dialogue seems at odds with the proper speech of his narrating voice, but he does acknowledge the difference. Although the ending is too pat, readers who crave independence and a way to break destructive family cycles will take interest, as will fans of poetry and poetry slams. (Fiction. YA)