Review #17 - Hokey Pokey by Jerry Spinelli

Hokey Pokey is a novel by the same author that wrote Stargirl all those years ago. You remember Stargirl don't you? Hokey Pokey was in the "teen" section of Waterstones Picadilly and is about a boy growing up in "Hokey Pokey," the land of children.

As I approach my 18th birthday at an alarmingly quick rate (less than seven months now *panics*) I am having a couple of crisis' about growing up. This was not the book for me. It's very dark about growing up. The main character is hanging onto childhood and badly and the main message of this book is growing up is inevitable. It's odd because it's quite childlike but there are these very dark themes running through about childhood ending. In a way I find it quite accurate though because we try to become a big kid and suddenly we're adults and that's terrifying.

The visual element was great but not universal which I found sad. It was a very old kind of childhood with playing outdoors and there was no indoor play with crafting which was my childhood. It was clearly written by an adult and that didn't immerse me in the story as much. It was a very descriptive book and that was absolutely great. I didn't like the map at the front and I normally love maps. It was a bit disjointed and I couldn't make my own images of the scenery.

It was split perspective (and I hate hate hate split perspective) but I didn't mind this. It weaved many stories together and that was done beautifully. Four for you Jerry Spinelli, you go Jerry Spinelli.

My edition is gorgeous. It has those pages you know the ones the American ones that vary in length and feel rough under your fingertips.

This is hard to judge if this is 9-12 or teens. It felt like a dark children's book. I loved it though.

Five stars.