Gaff

April 12, 2010
Set in Hawaii and thick with pidgin dialogue, Correa’s memorable debut explores the world of cockfighting. Two years after a lumberyard accident injured his father, Paul’s family makes a living caring for 200 gamecocks. Paul loves the roosters, but at 12 years old he hasn’t had to think about the cruelty involved in the illegal fights for which many of them are raised and sold. His best friend Sal’s grandfather, among others, views cockfighting as an important tradition (“da birds dance, move like music, use wing, curve neck. Dance, dance”), but when Paul is dragged to a fight by Sal’s older brother, it leaves him feeling sick and disturbed (“I think, in the middle of the cockfight, I was smelling how war must smell”). Paul begins to understand why his mother, his sister, and his crush, Honey, have always been against the sport, and becomes motivated to look for another source of income for his family. Through Paul’s sensitive eyes, the novel provides a hard-hitting but never gratuitous view of the brutal reality of cockfighting that’s contextualized by ethics and customs. Ages 8–12.

May 1, 2010
Gr 6-8-Seventh-grader Paul revels in his family's idyllic life on a small mountainside farm in Hawaii. His father, disabled in a lumberyard accident, raises beautiful, valuable fighting cocks that Paul and his best friend and closest neighbor, Sal, both love. He is also friends with Honey, who seems to return his interest. Only Sal's coarse-mouthed, 19-year-old brother, Raymond, darkens Paul's days with threats, put-downs, and general nastiness. When Ray virtually kidnaps Paul and Sal one day, taking them to see their first cockfight, Paul is emotionally and physically sickened by the violence, the illegality of the fights themselves, the gambling, and drugs being sold, but he hides his distaste in light of Sal's enthusiasm for what they've seen. Paul avers that cockfighting is abhorrent, and in talks with his gentle and religious father asserts that they must get out of the cock-raising business. Dad surprisingly concurs, but jobs are scarce and he feels constrained by his disabilities. Paul vows to find him a job. Conflicts with Sal, Honey, and Ray are plausibly, if not entirely realistically, resolved. Pidgin English and Hawaiian words used in context add local flavor to this interesting tale on an unusual topic."Joel Shoemaker, South East Junior High School, Iowa City, IA"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2010
Grades 5-8 Paul and his family live comfortably in their rustic Hawaiian home thanks to income from the prize gamecocks that they raise and sell. Paul avoids thinking about the fact that those roosters will be trained for cockfightsuntil his best friend Sals wild older brother Ray forces him to watch a match. Horrified and revolted by what he witnesses (described in stomach-churning detail by Correa), Paul becomes determined to find another line of work for his gentle father. Reminiscent of Graham Salisburys fiction, Correas debut is strongly colored by its distinctive regional setting and culture; even though much of the plot is taken up with common activities like going to school, working on a science project, enjoying meals reflective of family heritage, and getting closer to a pretty classmate, there are plenty of Hawaiian markers, from the deliberate pace of daily life to frequent references to tropical flowers, fruits, and trees. Pauls narrative voice is spot-on for his 12 years, and the author dishes out happy endings for allincluding the roosters.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)