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OLDER FICTION
Acampora, Paul

In Honor of Broken Things

208 pp. | Dial | March, 2022 | Trade ISBN 978-1-98481-664-1 $17.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-1-98481-665-8 $10.99
(2) YA Navigating the chaos and social groups of adolescent life can be difficult; in this novel, three friends help one another despite feeling "broken" themselves. Four-teen-year-old Oscar, football star at West Beacon Junior/Senior High School (go Mighty Mules!), has recently lost his younger sister to cancer. Riley, who contends with issues of anxiety and anger, has moved with her single mother back to Mom's hometown. Noah--spelling bee champ, artist extraordinaire, mathlete--is dealing with his parents' separation. Both Noah and Riley are new to West Beacon; Oscar, returning to school two weeks after his sister's funeral, doesn't want to hang with the cool kids anymore (he feels more like he's the only member of the "your-little-sister-just-died-and-now-you-sort-of-hate-everybody club"). In Mr. Martin's ceramics class, the three find themselves forming the group they all need. Clay becomes the central metaphor of the story--that which can be created; broken objects that can be fixed; and the things that can't, such as sisters dying, robberies, and families changing. With brokenness as a theme, crushing sadness could have sunk the narrative, but ­Acampora (Confusion Is Nothing New, rev. 7/18) leavens the story with Noah's humor, Riley's tell-it-like-it-is feistiness, and Oscar's openness to receiving help.
Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2022

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