Come Fall (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Come Fall Kate Quealy-Gainer Bauer, A. C. E. Come Fall. Random House, 2010. [240p.] Library ed. ISBN 978-0-375-95855-7 $18.99 Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-375-85825-3 $15.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-375-85827-7 $15.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 5-7. Salman Page, sure he'll be moved on to another foster family soon, considers making friends at his new school to be a waste of time. Lu Zimmer, adrift after her best friend moved away, hopes to find a pal in the new kid. Blos Pease just wants to be able to get to class early and eat his lunch in the appropriate order—if he happens to make a friend along the way, then so be it. That's all solid realistic junior-high fare, but there's a fantastical element here as well: Salman is of interest to the Faerie Queen herself, who has sent her servant Puck to keep a watchful eye on the young boy. Chapters shift between third-person narration that focuses on each of the teens in turn and Puck's first-person account as the characters negotiate the social hierarchies of their worlds—the teens in middle school, Puck in the faerie realm. Bauer excels in her portrayal of junior-high politics and people, with each of the kids believably fraught with insecurities and secret desires, but she is less successful in her incorporation of the faerie realm. Besides vague references to the beginnings of A Midsummer's Night Dream, there is no clear reason given here for Titania's interest in Salman (and readers are unlikely to be sufficiently versed in the play to draw on Shakespeare's explanation), so the supernatural intrusion seems contrived; that effect is heightened by the book's conclusion, which involves little to no interaction between the worlds, making the fantasy element seem superfluous at best. Nonetheless, the likable protagonists and the genuine friendships they develop may appeal to young readers familiar with the trials and tribulations of junior high, regardless of their interest in the world of faerie. [End Page 7] Copyright © 2010 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois