I recently had a flashback to the Jackson public library, where I spent some time my first summer living in Amador County. I remember these great books that the librarian recommended: Pigman; My Darling, My Hamburger; and A Hero Ain't Nothing but a Sandwich.
A couple of years ago, I told my son Joe to read Paul Zindel's Pigman. I remembered reading it as a kid and how it made me feel--devastated. I actually couldn't remember the plot, just that it was something to do with an old man and some mean kids. I just reread it and was amazed at the honesty of the story. Two high school students write alternating chapters about their friendship with a recent widower who collects ceramic pigs and eats snails and chocolate covered ants. The alternating first person structure helps us experience the blossoming of the friendship with the kids. Eventually, the kids act irresponsibly and break the old man's heart. Alone, ill and bereft at the callousness of his teenage friends, Mr. Pignatti dies of a heart attack when he discovers that his beloved baboon at the zoo has died.
As a girl I felt so terrible about the death of the Pigman and angry at the kids. As an adult, I experienced it as a really bleak look at the lives of three people who are just trying to pretend that they are not alone, outcast, and stuck in a life without meaning. Some kids' book!
My plan now is to re-read the other books I have listed.
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