Grant, Vicki. B Negative.

Grant, Vicki.      B Negative.  

Orca  2011  125p  9.95  978-1-55469-841-7
 hs  Realistic Fiction       E-BN  

The physical exam Paddy takes in preparation for joining the Army reveals 

secrets that threaten to destroy his family.               

Paddy is drifting through life, not really sure about what he wants to do with

it.  Pursue music? Get a job? Take classes at the community college? 

          Seventeen-year-old Paddy loves his family, but not his stepfather

Anthony.  Anthony calls Paddy’s bluff when Paddy threatens to join the Army. 

When Paddy takes the physical exam and learns his blood type, it becomes clear

that the man he has always thought of as his biological parent, is not, and now

he must question all that he thought he knew.

           The cover art will capture readers’ attention, but the brief,

compelling story will snag readers’ thoughts and have them turning pages as

quickly as they can read.  With more than fifty percent of marriages ending in

divorce, the family characters shown here are spare, but believable as low-

income, struggling, and imperfect. Readers may identify with these gritty

characters.

          While predictable, the plot may spark debate about reasons people join

the military or what it takes to be a (good) parent. Grant does not flinch away

from the unvarnished reaction Paddy’s (not-related) father has to the news that

Paddy is not his son. The open ending doesn’t resolve into a tidy “happy ending.”  

          A sequel detailing basic training, once Paddy is inducted into the

Army, would make a good follow up to this short novel that will certainly have

readers asking for another “like” this one.

                  Welliver, Hilary