First Boy -Gary Schmidt

Cooper Jewett has been raised by his grandparents on a New Hamshire Dairy Farm. When his grandfather suddenly dies, he is left to keep up the farm. At the same time strange things are happening in New Hampshire with the political primary season. One of the candidates comes to Cooper's school and proposes that Cooper join him on the campaign trail. Cooper faces an identity crisis similar to most teens, but complictaed by his grandparents denial to be upfront with him about his own parents. He loves his New Hampsire life, but wonders about the rest of the world as well.

I enjoyed the writing quite a bit. When dealing with his sense of loss, Schmidt writes, "..whatever it was that had stopped in him when his grandfather had died still hung broken. He felt it deep, like a stone too big to heft out of the garden. He just had to hoe around it and make do." I like that nurture wins over nature-- themes that Mark Twain obsessed over as well. I thought the story line itself was a bit far fetched. Nonetheless, it was fun to read.