The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin | Josh Berk
When Will Halpin enters public school, he's not quite sure what to expect. He's spent his life attending a school for deaf students and chose to mainstream in order to prove a point -- he's normal and can live a normal life, even if the world that isn't exactly kind, tolerant or respectful to those who can't hear.
But life at Coal Miner high isn't what he expected at all. Halpin soon finds himself playing detective, trying to discover the murderer of the star quarterback and the truth behind a mysterious relative he learns of in history class.
I also read this for the Nerds Heart YA book tournament. I'm not going to lie -- I hated it at first. It was like getting splashed in the face after the hot hot heat of Dark Water. I loathe text speak in teen novels and there was a shit ton of it. I wasn't keen on the plot, or the subplot, or the plot that was really the plot when it turned out the party based on a deck of cards wasn't actually the plot.
But I am really fond of Will. The tournament is about discovering books that serve underrepresented populations. I've read my way around all kinds of blocks, but I've never had a first-person, humorous account of what it's like to be hearing impaired. He's hilarious and kind, smart and clever, full of anger but not angry more like just a regular teenager trying to figure his own way out. He has crushes, tries to be a big man whenever a cute girl pays him kindness, kicks himself when he doesn't say the right thing. It's not his fault the implausibility of the plot (and the steam of his counterpart book) held him back for making it to the next round of the tournament.
And I'd like to think he'd be okay with that.
Posted on Friday, Jul 15, 2011
