Delightful time-travel paranormal YA tale
Written: Apr 13 '06 (Updated Oct 31 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: delightful protagonist, well-drawn eccentric characters, hilarious situations, great dialogue that's true to the era
Cons: into-the-future episode not well-resolved; other books in series out of print
The Bottom Line: A delightful time-travel paranormal YA tale that would send youngsters and adults alike into fits of laughter. Highly recommended.
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| jc_hall's Full Review: Richard Peck - The Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp |
Blossom is a young girl living in Bluff City, an up-and-growing American town, in the year 1914. On her last day of 8th grade, Miss Spaulding, the principal (who ‘has no more figure than a runner bean [but] makes up for it with good posture’) has a little tete a tete with Blossom. Now Blossom is no stranger to the principal’s office, having been a regular visitor since her first day there, so she and Miss Spaulding have a bit of an understanding, as it were. Miss Spaulding’s wish is for Blossom to have a fresh start in the high school across the road, and hints that Blossom might do well not to make much of her ‘old habits’.
But Blossom is certain that she got her Second Sight from her tobacco-chewing Mama, who’s seven-eighths gypsy and is as handy with a pack of cards and a crystal ball as she is with a switch. When Blossom gets her Vibrations, she could be here and elsewhere all at once. So though she promises Miss Spaulding to try, she’s uncertain if she could deny her Gift.
Blossom soon finds out that high school is no different from grade school, with Letty Shambaugh lording over all the girls. And everyone, including Alexander, a good-looking but somewhat uptight boy, keeps avoiding Blossom as if she, by her tall but true tales, would embarrass them all. She does find a friend though, down in the girls’ rest room in the cellar of the school. That’s where snaggle-toothed Daisy Mae spends her day, too scared to join the others, waiting for her none-too-bright little brother Roderick to finish his day at the junior school across the road.
When the freshman class decide to host a Haunted House in the old abandoned broken-down Leverette farmhouse on Hallowe’en night, Blossom has some misgivings. After all, didn’t her Mama specifically forbid her to go anywhere near that property, intimating that strange occult things occurred there in the dead of night?
With a very nervous Alexander, Blossom sets out to investigate, and is suddenly propelled 70-odd years into the future, where a young, bright and very lonely Jeremy lives with his distracted mother and his mean, named-for-a-lamp, sister Tiffany.
Will Blossom be forever trapped in a future that is as strange and bewildering to her as she is to Jeremy? Will she be able to get back to Bluff City in time to participate in the freshman class’ hosting of the Haunted House? She’s supposed to dress up as a fortune-teller and take along her mother’s crystal ball to tell fortunes for a nickel. What if she can’t make it back in time?
This is a delightful time-travel paranormal YA tale that would appeal to both youngsters and adults alike. Even though an 11-year-old would have no problem reading the story, I never once felt it was written specifically for children. The humour, in particular, is wonderfully expressed, dry and tongue-in-cheek in some cases, and outright laugh-out-loud hilarious in others. The scene at the Bijou Picture Show where Daisy Mae and Roderick get caught up in the ‘moving picture’ had me in stitches.
The characters are all well-drawn, if a touch caricatured, and the interaction between them are funny and believable. It was nice to see one teacher get his comeuppance, and I liked the way Blossom behaved with Alexander and with the other girls. Despite being unpopular, Blossom never changes herself to fit in. This spunky, non-conforming 12-year-old is a great character, so it’s a pity the other books in the series are out of print.
Don't let the YA (young adult) designation put you off. Any grown-up with a sense of humour should enjoy Blossom's tall tales and her escapades. Highly recommended for children and adults alike.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jc_hall
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Member: JC Hall
Location: Toronto, Canada
Reviews written: 199
Trusted by: 54 members
About Me:
Going back to Vancouver for Christmas! Happy Holidays, everyone!!
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