Smoke (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Smoke Deborah Stevenson Jukes, Mavis . Smoke. Foster/Farrar, 2009 [176p]. ISBN 978-0-374-37085-5 $16.00 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 6-9 Idaho has always been Colton Hudson's home, but now he and his mother are moving to California, where she's hoping to start life anew in a small rural town there. Twelve-year-old Colton actually likes his new school and begins to find some good friends there as he sorts out his identity in his new place. Nonetheless, he still misses his rodeo champion father and his rancher grandfather in Idaho, and his loyalties are torn further when his mother begins dating a neighbor; worst of all, his beloved Maine Coon cat, Smoke, disappears one night, and Colton fears that his pet became the prey of a roaming mountain lion. Jukes is a masterful writer who makes it look easy with her accessible and unassuming style. Without breaching the tradition of stoicism that Colton reveres ("The Hudson boys didn't complain"), she manages to convey his distress at what seems to him like his father's erasure from his life, and his adjustment to his new home credibly involves not just rebalancing in the face of change but finding a way to keep his connection with his Hudson heritage even from California. Smoke's disappearance will strike at the hearts of animal-loving readers (they'll be relieved that the book provides a plausible happy outcome), and it effectively underscores Colton's general sense of loss. Rich characterization, especially in Colton's schoolmates and his father's family, adds depth, [End Page 326] and there's humor in his relationships at school and home, making this ultimately a quietly triumphant story of a kid who's got some setbacks and concerns, but who's ultimately doing okay. Copyright © 2009 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois