Bray, Libba. (2009). Going Bovine. NY:Delacorte Books for Young Readers.
ISBN: 978-0385733977
Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness: Serious Illness, Drugs, Independence, Friendship
Genre: Fantasy, Speculative, Adventure, Dark Humor
Awards: Printz Award (2010)
ALA Best Books for Young Adults (2010)
Locus Recommended Reading (Young Adult Book, 2009)
Locus Award Finalist (Young Adult, 2010)
Annotation: A boy with Mad Cow disease, a talking garden gnome, a midget, fire giants, and a maybe not real punk angel; what could make for a better crazier adventure?
Summary: Cameron is an apathetic teenager living in a dysfunctional family. He likes to smoke pot, collect unusual music, and mock his sister and her friends. Things get strange, though, when Cameron is diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, otherwise known as mad cow disease. This sets in motion a crazy adventure involving Gonzo the midget, Dulcie the punk angel, a talking garden gnome, and fire giants. At Dulcie’s prodding Cameron sets off to find Professor X, a possible cure to his disease, and perhaps even save the world. With a surreal blending of pieces from Cameron’s real life and the supernatural, Cameron’s journey is part fantasy story and part crazy fun. Throughout, we are never sure if what is happening is real or just hallucinations.
Evaluation: Though fairly long (almost 500 pages), Cameron’s strange delusions of grandeur, his astute realizations, and string of unusual and comical situations keeps us hooked till the end.
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