A busy year begins for 14-year-old Junior Bledsoe when his pop drops dead by the side of the road from alcohol abuse, and Junior is left the man of the family, which consists of long-suffering Momma and his war-hungry grandfather. The grandfather gets his wish when Japan bombs Pearl Harbor. Junior, who more than anything longs for respect, decides to enlist in the army. He doesn't succeed, being too young, which leaves him with a penchant for trouble and for bad decisions. For starters, he decides to drop out of school and "borrows" his teacher's car to investigate the circumstances of his pop's death. Eventually he's loaned a kindly neighbor's truck but promptly blows the engine, having forgotten to put in oil. What next? Hostetter's prequel to her earlier novels Blue (2006) and Comfort (2009) is a quiet, episodic coming-of-age story set in the rural South. Setting remains the author's strong suit, freshness and originality less so, but readers who enjoyed the two previous novels won't want to miss this one.

In this prequel to Blue and Comfort, Hostetter focuses on another resident of rural Hickory, North Carolina: fourteen-year-old Junior Bledsoe. It's 1941, and World War II is looming, but Junior's focus is mainly on his father's death, family history, his own identity, and unexpected new friendships. Hostetter continues to depict compelling life lessons through a historical lens without being didactic. Reading list, websites. Bib.

In this pre–World War II companion to the novels Blue (2006) and Comfort (2009), 14-year-old Junior Bledsoe fights personal battles at home as America's entry into the war grows imminent. Junior struggles with school and to control his anger at his alcoholic father, his insufferable grandfather, his neighbors, and himself. When his father dies after another night of drinking, Junior feels ever more desperate to understand himself and find his own aim in life. He finds relief from his troubles in escapes to the nearby woods and tinkering with cars. A fatherly neighbor provides some much-needed guidance, and a challenging teacher and troubled classmate help him find some direction. Hostetter creates a vivid sense of time and place in her early-1940s rural North Carolina setting and a fully realized, sympathetic character in Junior. She makes Junior choose how to handle the hard things that come his way, whether to be shaped negatively or positively by them. Over the course of the novel, a year passes after Junior's father dies, and the story satisfyingly concludes with him confident and looking forward to the future. An author's note explains the story's historical context. An absorbing, well-crafted coming-of-age story with finely detailed historical background. (bibliography, further reading) (Historical fiction. 9-12)

Gr 7 Up-A boy grappling with life-changing decisions, unlikely friendships, and what it means to be a man is at the soul of this story. Fourteen-year-old country boy Junior Bledsoe's life takes a turn for the worse when his father is found dead from drinking. The year is 1941, and news of World War II simmers in the background. Struggling to make sense of the new order of things and his place in the world, Junior yearns for respect in place of the sullied reputation his father left behind. He goes to school, labors around the farm, and does odd jobs to help pay the bills, but his cantankerous granddaddy, a newcomer to the family, doesn't recognize his worth. His father hated this man, and Junior starts to learn why. Consumed by unanswered questions surrounding his father's death, Junior begrudgingly makes friends with a boy named Catfish, and the road they take comes with trouble. But a question remains: What drove Junior's father to drink so much his last few years? The novel's historical details are so deftly intertwined with the story line that the work feels like a slice of time that has been recorded on paper. Hostetter's well-crafted turn of phrase and timely humor all add to the richness of the era. VERDICT A must-have for historical fiction collections. Robyn Gioia, Antilles Middle School, Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico

Junior wants respectfrom his father, his classmates and from the whole townbut he feels he will never get it. Set in the south in the early days of World War II, readers will find the times different, but not Junior's struggle to grow into a man. Junior's father is a fine mechanic, but he has a cruel streak and is a drunk. Junior has to share his room with his grandfather, who wants nothing more than for America to enter World War II (FDR is "yellow-bellied," unlike his cousin Theodore, according to Granddaddy). When Junior's dad dies, Junior struggles even moreto keep up with school, to do all the chores around home, and to stay out of trouble. He tries to enlist, but he is too young. He drops out of school and makes a series of bad decisions, ending with being shamed in front of men he respects and his mother's friends.Junior learns his lesson about earning respect and overcoming generations of abuse to arrive at a sense of peace by the end of the book. Aim is a prequel to Hostetter's Blue (Boyds Mills, 2006/VOYA December 2006) and Comfort (Boyds Mills, 2009),which focus on Ann Fay, a minor character in Aim. Young adults who enjoy historical novels such as Clare Vanderpool's Moon over Manifest (Penguin, 2010) or Jack Gantos's Dead End in Norvelt (Macmillan, 2011/VOYA Online Only, 2011) or who identify with Junior's longing for respect and dedication to earning it will appreciate Hostetter's attention to detail and the realistic way Junior reacts to the personal and political events around him.Suzanne Libra.