"Hidden Roots" by Joseph Bruchac

Photo Credit: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2011098.Hidden_Roots

Sonny is an 11 year old boy growing up in 1954. As an only child, he observes the strained relationship between his mother and angry, abusive father. Stress at home follows him to school where it appears Sonny is an outcast, befriending the school librarian. When a factory accident threatens the well being of his family, Sonny begins to observe his father in a new light, while a family friend, “Uncle Louis” becomes present more often.

Bruchac’s book presents a likeable character in Sonny, though the narrator’s voice leaves the dynamics of the setting slightly ambiguous longer than I usually prefer. As a first-person narrator, Sonny’s 11 year old viewpoint of his father and his father’s accident is well developed for being as brief a read as Hidden Roots is. TO be honest, I wasn’t entirely ready for the book to be over, once I realized I was on the last page.

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Bruchac, Joseph. Hidden Roots. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2004. Print. ISBN-0439353599; paperback; $5.99 USD.