What's the name of the 11-year-old main character in Paperboy? The reader doesn't know because the main character can't really say it. He has a stutter and the letters of his name give him particular trouble. So he's referred to as "Little Man," "son," and "the messenger," but not by his name. In this review, I'll refer to him as the paperboy, even though he's not really the paperboy.

This story is set in 1959 in Memphis, Tennessee. The paperboy is temporarily covering paperboy duties for his friend Rat, who's spending the summer out on the farm. Being the paperboy means having to to talk to strangers, which is daunting when you have a stutter. So the paperboy practices using "Gentle Air" to get his words out. He also finds many opportunities to test his courage and confidence. There's being swindled by the junk man, Ara T. There's the beautiful and troubled red-headed woman named Mrs. Worthington. And there's a mysterious, philosophical customer named Mr. Spiro who gives the paperboy interesting tips and conversation.

Readers will learn a little about what it might've been like to be a white boy raised by a black housekeeper before the Civil Rights Movement. They will learn a tremendous amount about living with a stutter. This is really where the book shines. If you read the afterword, you find that this book is really more a memoir than a work of fiction. The author writes with such passion about growing up with a stutter because he actually grew up with a stutter.

I really enjoyed the the paperboy's voice and his challenges, so I'd recommend this book. The weak points are the plot, which definitely drags in the middle, and the length. I think you could easily cut this book down have something more digestible for your average middle grade reader. But for kids who love to empathize with characters who have dramatic struggles (as in, for instance, [b:Wonder|11387515|Wonder|R.J. Palacio|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1366213431s/11387515.jpg|16319487], [b:Out of My Mind|6609765|Out of My Mind|Sharon M. Draper|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1347602096s/6609765.jpg|6803732], and [b:Rules|222458|Rules|Cynthia Lord|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328868621s/222458.jpg|1139031]), this will satisfy. Very impressive for a first work of fiction (and a first work of fiction for children at that).
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Grade Levels: 4-8
Awards: 1997 Caldecott Honor ( )

Wow. Simply "wow". ( )

An eleven-year-old boy in Memphis, 1959, takes over his friend's paper route for a month. He's looking forward to the deliveries, but as a boy with a stutter, he's nervous about collecting payment on Fridays and has to navigate that and other challenges that come his way.

The author's note declares that this is "more memoir than fiction", and I think ultimately I would have liked if the author had gone all one way or the other. As it was, I was uncomfortable with the way he portrayed the Black characters - one, Miss Nellie whom he called "Mam", was someone who looked after him and disposed wisdom and the other, Ara T, was a no-good, stealing junk man Mam wanted him to stay away from. They speak a sort-of AAVE, and I'm no expert, but the way she used "be" didn't follow the rules of its usage that I've heard, which made me wonder how accurate it was. But since I don't know how much was exactly the author's lived experience and how much was made up, I was just left with this unsettling feeling that he was unconsciously playing into common stereotypes. The story itself, about one month that was transformative in a boy's life, was episodic and occasionally threw in some elements out of left field, though the bones were good. I enjoyed the relationship he forges with Mr. Spiro on his route, in particular, and liked to see the boy's growing confidence in himself, though the stutter never goes away. The representation of the stutter was the best I've ever seen in a book, realistic and addressing some of the common difficult sounds and the techniques the character (and author) could use to work around it. The audiobook, read by Lincoln Hoppe, works especially well for getting the sense of the boy's speech patterns. A mixed bag, but worth the read. ( )

children's/middlegrade summer job drama in 1959 Memphis/ fictionalized memoir. Vince is 11 years old, soon to be 12, has a great pitching arm, and stutters. Appreciate the "for more info on stuttering" sources guide at the back of the book, and the author's note about his own experiences. The ending is a little bit anticlimactic and remarkably easy for all the buildup, but is believable. ( )