Jacobs, Evan. Father Son Father.

Jacobs, Evan.  Father Son Father.   Saddleback  2015  199p  ISBN 978-1-68021-038-5  ms/hs  Conflict  VG-BN

This hi-lo book concerns a teenage boy who finds himself as the sole care-taker of his father, who is very ill.  Characterizations are excellent, and readers of both sexes will connect with Jeff.  Jeff is a 16-year-old boy who lives with his dad, just the two of them since his mother died several years ago.  He is driven by a desire to do well in school, get into a good college, and make something meaningful of his life.  What he does not count on is his father’s deteriorating health, and the fact that there is nobody else to help him take care of his father.  As the story progresses, Jeff learns that love can be difficult and that sometimes one has to look for support in unlikely places.  During the course of the story, Jeff and his dad meet a transgendered person named Andrea, and Jeff has to deal with his conflicting feelings about Andrea, who becomes a big part of his father’s life.  Because it is a Saddleback book, the writing is very simple, with short sentences and very short chapters, and yet the author manages to paint a very complete and compelling portrait of Jeff and the other characters in the novel.  Reluctant readers will turn the pages to see what happens next, because they will feel a profound connection with Jeff.  Recommended for boys and girls alike, especially reluctant readers at the middle-school and high-school levels.  This is an uncorrected galley, but the cover illustration is quite misleading, implying that Jeff has sexual-identity issues of his own, which he does not.  The book is recommended for hi-lo readers at the middle-school and high-school levels.           

Summary: This hi-lo book concerns a teenage boy who finds himself as the sole care-taker of his father, who is very ill.  Characterizations are excellent, and readers of both sexes will connect with Jeff. 

Families-Fiction, Transgendered persons-Fiction             --Carol Kennedy