Latham, Irene. Don’t Feed the Boy.

Latham, Irene.    Don’t Feed the Boy.     Macmillan/ Roaring Brook Press      2012  282p  $15.99  978-1-59643-755-5      elm/ms  Realistic Fiction     VG-BN

The child of zoo-workers, Whit has never left the confines of their protected environment.  All he wants is to escape and experience what he deems to be real life.  He meets Stella, a young girl who experiences real life, which is not so pleasant, and who is trying to escape her circumstances as well. 

Whit and Stella meet under bizarre circumstances one day at the zoo!  Young Whit has no friends except for the workers and animals with whom he resides and, overly protected by his parents, no freedom to leave the zoo.  On the other hand, Stella has all of the freedom afforded a young girl who lives close enough to the zoo to visit it every day.  What makes her visits so unusual is the fact that she is escaping a family situation that is threatening and stifling.  After being injured in a work accident, her father has become addicted to pain medications, and he presents a danger to his family!  He is abusive, and Stella needs the zoo to survive.  Stella’s skills as an artist draw Whit in, and his knowledge and free rein around the zoo draw Stella in.  Their friendship is forged when Stella helps Whit leave the zoo one day, and he experiences his first taste of freedom! 

Young readers will learn lots of information about zoo life, become actively involved in the day-to-day activities at the zoo, and watch a friendship grow.  When Millie, the most popular elephant, dies, the falling action begins, and everything comes to a head when Whit believes Stella to have perished in a barn fire!  The resolution might not satisfy all young readers, but it is meaningful and thought-provoking. 

Friendship – Fiction, Zoos - Fiction                    --Martha Squaresky