Sunday, October 24, 2010

Come Fall - A.C.E Bauer

Come Fall by A.C.E. Bauer
Salman Page will be starting 7th grade at yet another school. He was abandoned as a baby and has been in foster care ever since. Salman doesn't want to make any friends at Springsfalls Juinor High but that changes thanks to his designated buddy. New students are assigned a DB to help show them around. Salman's DB is Lu Zimmer. Lu is a nice, smart and doesn't draw much attention to herself at school. The year before Lu shared a designated buddy with Blos Pease. Many kids make fun of or avoid Blos because he's different. The author never says it directly but I think Blos is autistic. Somehow this trio become friends. Before Lu and Blos, Salman's only friend is a crow.

Salman has never meant his parents. His first foster mother named him after the writer Rushdie because she believed he was of South Asian descent. One thing is obvious Salman is no ordinary boy, a Queen and King in a Faerie Realm are paying close attention to him. The chapters alternate between Salman's school life and the two members of royalty in the Faerie Realm who have an interest him.

I really enjoyed Come Fall, though the ending felt a little rushed. I thought the voices of the three kids were great. Bauer does a great job of developing their individual personalities. Salman, Lu and Blos made this book for me. As far as the fantasy goes, I liked the language, especially Puck, the character caught between the feuding King and Queen.

read an excerpt

2 comments:

Kate Coombs said...

This looks good--thanks!

Jodie said...

Thta's a pen name right? Or did the authors parents really want a kid whose name was a cool ackronym. I've seen this talked about before, but for some reason it sounds more like my sort of book the way you've described it.