A Very Very Unique book...

The Grasshopper Jungle

By: Andrew Smith

Genre: YA LGBTQ/Sci-Fi

Pages: 368

Published: 2014

Read: May

2.5 out of 5

WOW! This is probably the strangest book I have ever read. It is a coming-of-age story, but with a sci-fi twist. The writing style and plot were very unique and I definitely give Smith credit for that. I felt this was a novel that intertangles Looking for Alaska by John Green and the movie Tremors (1990). I had two major issues with the book - Smith would repeat sentences a lot. This was definitely part of his writing style, but I found it very annoying and not sure what it added to the story. My  other dilemma is as a Teen Librarian, I am not sure how to market this book. Typically, boys enjoy sci-fi but not relationship/homosexual/coming-of-age novels and the girls are just the opposite. Because of the teen characters and crossing of genres, I don't know if adults would enjoy it either. After talking with a co-worker, we came to the conclusion that besides teen boys questioning their own sexuality that the best readers may be adult males who are still kids themselves and possibly reluctant readers.