The Kidney Hypothetical

September 1, 2015

Gr 7 Up-Higgs Boson Bing has been living to make his parents happy since his older brother, Jeffery, passed away. He's done exceptionally well in school and is headed to Harvard when he graduates. But after a fight with his girlfriend about whether he'd give her a kidney if she needed one, Higgs begins to unravel. Ramon de Ocampo inflects the right amount of teen angst in Higgs, never making him a caricature but rather a flawed teen who wants to understand who he is. Ocampo uses his higher and lower ranges to cover emotions from frustration to liberation as Higgs confronts his imperfections. He also handles female voices well, including Monarch, the snarky goth girl who magically appears in a field and becomes Higgs's confidante. Monarch's throaty, rebellious voice is irresistible, and she has plenty of secrets that listeners will guess before the clueless, lovesick hero does. VERDICT Give this to fans of Don Calame's or Brent Crawford's books.-Shari Fesko, Southfield Public Library, MI

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.