Sprout by Dale Peck

3 Stars

After his mother died of cancer, Sprout and his father packed their belongings and moved from Long Island to Hutchison, Kansas. They may as well moved to another planet. Sprout has been in Kansas for years now, but is still the new kid. His green hair makes him stand out as it is, but add in his eccentric, alcoholic father and the fact that he’s an in-the-closet gay teenager in the reddest red state in the country and there’s no way he can fit in.

"Sprout" popped up on a recommended reading list since I adore all that is David Levithan. Kind of an unfair thing to do to Dale Peck since Levithan just sets the bar soooooo high when it comes to teenage characters, huh? That being said, "Sprout" was a fairly decent read. I know many people have a huge pet peeve with adolescent characters who speak like an Encyclopedia Brittanica, but I’m not one of them (Non-spoiler alert: If you are generally annoyed by this – ride it out for the duration of "Sprout" – there might be a method to his madness). I kind of loved Sprout Bradford throughout most of the book. He was unique, he was witty and he obviously needed people to love him. Peck wrote a good book. However, open endings are my kryptonite. An open ending just sucks the happy endorphins right out of my system - especially when the book is less than 300 pages. Finish the book, Peck. I might even break my own rule and read the sequel. Until then, 3-Stars is as good a rating as I can muster.