From School Library Journal
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Gr 5–7—Charlie's in foreign territory when his stepher brings the family back to Taper, FL, to attend
the funeral of his high school football coach. Charlie immediately finds himself adopted as a cousin by a relative of
his stepher and, almost as quickly, caught up in the strange customs and eldritch history of the football-obsessed
towns that surround the sugarcane fields. Wilson has invented timeless creatures embodying good and evil. A mysterious
and terrifying "Mother" reanimates the recent dead, turning them into "Gren"—repellent, odiferous beings that pursue the
boys through the muck, canals, and cane fields. The presence of Gren causes humans to think hateful thoughts. On the
side of goodness, there's an odd, ghostly man wearing a helmet and wielding a rusty and Mother Wisdom, the
football coach's widow who has magical healing powers. Additional layers of complications are provided by the appearance
of Charlie's own her who'd abused Charlie and his mother before their divorce. There is also a half-brother Charlie
never knew existed. Mixed in with the family drama and supernatural elements is some football. The atmosphere Wilson
creates is darkly compelling, and the writing is poetic. The mythology, however, is more a net of allusions than a fully
formed cosmology. Several references to Beowulf are made throughout the text, though how it directly relates to this
contemporary story is unclear. Lyrical language, literary connections, and shifting points of view may leave the
intended audience unwilling to wade through the muck with Charlie.—Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Library, NY
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*Starred Review* In Taper, Florida, football runs through the town’s veins like children through the
sugarcane fields—fast as the rabbits they’re chasing. When Coach Wiz dies, 12-year-old Charlie Reynolds and his family
travel to Taper for the funeral, and Charlie feels the tug of the land beneath his feet. He and his cousin Cotton take
off through the cane until they reach a mound rising between the fields and outlying swampland, topped with a chalk
stone, a dead snake, and a mysterious man wearing a helmet and carrying a rusty . In the swamp, a mystical sense
pervades, and the boys learn of an ancient, evil tribe threatening the town and what they must do to keep it in check.
Wilson brings the stuff of folklore to life in this novel, as elements of Beowulf, voodoo, and zombie mythos combine
with the everyday to fantastic effect. The story moves at heart-pounding speeds, furthered by magic and mystery and
rooted in ideas of familial bonds and self-discovery. In the end, it is a tale of one boy’s daring quest to save his
family and to learn what it means to fly. Grades 3-6. --Julia Smith
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