Don Robertson (1) (1929–1999)

Set in Cleveland in 1944, this is the story of nine year-old Morris Bird III, who is a good athlete and a nice kid, though he unintentionally causes an uproar at school with "the salami sandwich incident" and allows the school bully to be blamed. Morris is an independent thinker, choosing a strange kid named Stanley Chaloupka as his best friend when the other kids think Stanley is weird. Morris is also loyal. When Stanley moves to a far away neighborhood, Morris tells him he will come see him, ditching a class field trip to spend the afternoon walking to Stanley's new home. He had expected to go alone, but at the last minute, he's saddled with taking his annoying six-year old sister with him and renting a classmate's wagon to pull her across town. Along the way the two bicker while encountering unusual and comedic situations. This is the story of a boy's daily life, and it reminded me of Jean Shepard's In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash, the basis of A Christmas Story.
And then, three-quarters of the way through, it was as if the story was passed to Stephen King, because a horror befalls Cleveland and Morris and his little sister have front row seats. The characters, including children, are decimated. It's rare to find a book that goes along as a humorous slice-of-life tale, then turns on a dime like this. If Robertson wanted to startle his reader, he did it.… (mer)

Morris Bird III is 9y.o. and he's s typical boy in the '40's (or so I surmise from stories my dad has told me of his childhood.) The beginning of the book is slow, but very important to get the feel of the times and the characters.
When Morris's teacher gives a speech about self-respect he decides he wants that. He plans a trip to visit a friend that moved away to another part of town. He's going to visit his friend Stanley Chaloupka, whom is an odd bird and doesn't have any friends. From the beginning of the trip, things start to happen; first his sister Sandra demands she be taken with him or she'll scream and he won't get to go. Then a school friend loans him his wagon, but for a small fee. Some friend! On the way to Stanley's house many more incidences happen and one might just turn around, call it a good try and go back home. Morris doesn't though.
He is determined to do this one thing on his own!
In the end he saves four lives; his, his sister's, a burning woman, and a legless man. The legless man tells a police officer that 'Morris is the greatesst thing since sliced bread. He saved them. He's going to grow into a real man.'
Morris wonders if this has anything to do with what his teacher had talked about when she made her speech about Ulysses S. Grant.
This is a slow moving story, but it's such a powerful story of a 9 y/o's perseverance and a tragic incident in the city where he shows his strength of character, a step towards being an adult. And the situation is a catch-22. If he hadn't skipped his field trip to visit his friend Stanley, he wouldn't have been involved in the explosion, but then who would have saved the lady and the legless man?
I highly recommend reading this book.… (mer)