Soames on the Range

Gr 7—10—San Francisco Soames has never had a "normal" family. He and his siblings are named after places, his twin sisters are always getting into trouble, and his parents are former hippies. But things take a turn for the worse in their small Vermont town when his parents inform him that his father is gay. A homophobic bullying incident outside a pharmacy, in which the store's owner attempts to protect Cisco with a shotgun, turns ugly and the next thing Cisco knows, he's responsible for putting Mr. Patterson in a coma. In an attempt to give their son a fresh start, the boy's parents send him to his Uncle Vincent's ranch in middle-of-nowhere British Columbia, but Cisco's fate doesn't immediately improve upon landing on Canadian soil. He appreciates cooking and eating good food, but his uncle's moose stew is barely edible. Belgue excels at capturing the realities of small-town life. Likewise, details of the Canadian wilderness will make readers feel transported to the great white North. Unfortunately, the story suffers from uneven pacing and characters who never quite come to life. While Cisco's cooking aspirations could draw an audience, they are not a large enough part of the story and fail to carry it. Given the dearth of YA fiction featuring gay parents, this title is significant. However, the Canadian setting and other shortcomings make it a hard sell.—Jennifer Barnes, Gleason Public Library, Carlisle, MA