Content: G
BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ADVISABLE
APPEALS TO: SEVERAL
Junius Leak, who is almost 13yo, is being exiled to stay with his Uncle Spot on his rickety houseboat while his parents work on their marriage. Junius has a love-hate relationship with water: he is writing his own book about water bodies, but he is terrified of being in the water. Junius discovers that he comes from a long line of Junius Leaks, who are tied to pirate treasure, and that there are a lot of surprises in Delcambre, Louisiana, where he was born. Junius wants to learn why his mother left town when he was just a baby and how to overcome his fear of water, all before an impending real-life disaster waits in the wings.
The narrative alternates between Junius and the lake. The lake has a great voice and the story spans 100's of years, involving pirate treasure, family feuds, and a mysterious and cursed Siren's Flute. I loved this book. The only thing keeping it from an essential rating is its length. I didn't pick it up at first because it looked like a huge investment of my time. However, it was an investment I was happy to make once I got going. This a fictionalized story around the real-life bizarre lake disaster in 1980, where an entire lake disappeared. Junius is a great character who is highly sensitive and he is both likable and relatable. The writing style makes every character seem real, even the lake. Indeed, the lake makes a great metaphor for "the way life can stir us up, disorient us, and leave us forever changed." Readers will want to read Wolf's graphic novel, "The Vanishing of Lake Peigneur," for more of the facts behind the story. They make a great companion set.
The culture is white with plenty of Creole thrown in.
Michelle in the Middle
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