{Book Review} The Blue-Haired Boy by Courtney C. Stevens

» 8 June, 2015 » 4 Star Review, 4 Stars » 0 comments

The Blue-Haired Boy by Courtney C. Stevens
Published by Harper Collins on March 4th 2014
Genres: Family, Friendship, General, Girls & Women, Physical & Emotional Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Social Issues, Young Adult
Pages: 71

• Barnes and Noble • four-stars
Set before the events of Courtney C. Stevens's debut novel, Faking Normal, this digital short story focuses on Bodee Lennox, otherwise known as the Kool-Aid Kid.Bodee Lennox has secrets. About where he got the four-inch scar on his leg. About the bruises on his back. About what it's really like to live in the Lennox household. These are things he doesn't share with anyone . . . until he meets Gerry, a girl with bright-green hair and a smile the size of Alaska. When Gerry falls out of a bus in Rickman, Tennessee, and lands at Bodee's feet, she gives Bodee two things he desperately needs: a friend and a chance to leave Rickman behind, even if it's just for a few hours.He joins Gerry on her epic bus trip for as far as his money will take him. And by the end of the day, more of Bodee has changed than just the color of his hair. HarperTeen Impulse is a digital imprint focused on young adult short stories and novellas, with new releases the first Tuesday of each month.

We first met Bodee Lennox in Faking Normal. He starred as the constant enigma that saved Alexi from herself. I went to a panel at the South Carolina Book Festival where Courtney C. Stevens was one of the speakers and she talked about the novella, a story about Bodee before the events that took place or caused the events of Faking Normal. I hadn’t yet read her book, but once I did, I understood why she was told that people were going to want to know about Bodee.

Bodee will eventually be free of his father’s constant abuse, but not without consequences. The novella took place during a time before the summer that changed it all, the time where he was still able to admit to himself that there was a small part of him that hated his mother for allowing him to live in that house. Bodee remained the silent travel companion—more literal in this story—but this time I knew what he was thinking. Some of the things that he did in Faking Normal were explained in The Blue-Haired Boy. You can read the novella before Faking Normal, if you’d like, but I thought it made more sense reading it after Alexi’s story is told.

Less than 50 pages or so, I quickly started and finished Bodee’s daytime adventure with a green haired girl named Gerry. I enjoyed hearing a different side of my favorite character’s life before everything changed and someone else needed saving. Bodee’s character already had unexplainable depth, but I then understood why he was able to help Alexi as much as he did—this boy refused to be broken.

Moriah (1)

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