HOW LAMAR'S BAD PRANK WON HIM A BUBBA-SIZED TROPHY by Crystal Allen
This was a well-written debut novel by Crystal Allen. Believe it or not, within the last several years, this is one of the few children's books I found written by a black/African-American and portraying a black kid as the main character.
More of that please!
Allen's personal passion for bowling is present hear in the detailed, reverent way she describes the blissful, zen-like bowling experience of her main protagonist, Lamar Washington. To discover she had been around bowling alleys most of her life was no shock.
The backdrop, Coffin, Indiana is realistically portrayed as a town where high school basketball is the only point of pride in an otherwise economically blighted small town. Lamar feels he can't outshine his basketball playing older brother, Xavier, so he allows himself to be manipulated by local bad boy, BIlly Jenks, to cheat at hustling games from strangers. Of course, it was all so he could buy a Pro Thunder bowling ball designed by his all time favorite bowler, Bubba Sanders, who plans to visit Lamar's home town. Oh, and there's a girl Lamar wants to impress too, against the wishes of his best friend, Sergio.
Unfortunately, I was hyper aware of all the urban slang, including: off the chain, dissed, jacked-up, that's what's up, hndle your business, that's tight. Its not that I had a problem with Lamar speaking this way. Its just that whenever I see this type of language in a book, its an immediate code that tells me its a black character speaking, even before the author writes a physical description. Having grown up in New York City, I have witnessed Caucasian guys who grew up in more urban areas and were also raised in hip-hop culture who use similar language, and quite authentically. I would love to see a non-black character speak this way just to shake up stereotypes.
I was also a bit disappointed with how the author resolved a minor plot point. At the book's climax, Lamar's older brother, Xavier, tells his dad the reason he didn't take his depression and anger medication was because it made him sleepy and gave him nausea.Yet,later, Xavier says he takes his medication on a full stomach and takes it at night, before he goes to bed, implicating he is no longer drowsy while in school.
As an artist, social activist and educator, I believe many parents are scared and manipulated by doctors to put their kids on drugs rather than investigate other alternatives to healing their child via going to the source of the problem, such as a change of diet that eliminates food dyes, known to cause hyper-activity in children, from the child's diet. The use of art as therapy is another alternative to helping a child heal from psychological or emotional trauma that manifests as anger. PIlls only mask the problem without resolving it and damage the child's brain.
Most children who are on drugs such as Ritalin are usually on it during the school day, since its the teachers who may have initially reported the child's supposed hyper-activity. Also parents place blind trust in doctors who are more than anything reps for Big Pharma, who shamelessly push more pills than most dealers on an average city corner, all while laughing all the way to the bank with your money.
One last side note: After catching specific name brands like M&M's and Coke mentioned several times in this book, I wondered if in fact a form of product placement happens in books published by major publishers, just like they do in major films. It certainly seems to be the case. Many schools take money from Coke and McDonald's to place their junk food in those schools because said schools are hurting for money and companies like Coke and McDonald's have millions, as opposed to the much less financially solvent health food industry. The book publishing industry doesn't have money like Hollywood, so its understandable if it happens.
