Fort by Cynthia Defelice

2017-2018 MHL Nominee

Genre:  Realistic

Grade Level: 3^rd – 7th

Reading Level: 4.4 (5 points) 208 pages

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (May 19, 2015)

My Rating: 2 out of 4

Readability: Easy to read and quick.

MHL Division: Crossover

Summary: 

When older boys trespass in the fort where Wyatt and Augie have been enjoying a wonderful summer, they team up with another bullied kid to exact revenge against the older boys, with unexpected consequences.

Two boys spend the summer building a fort, fishing, camping, catching squirrels and fighting the older boys who are bullying them and blaming all their antics on a special needs boy. Wyatt and Augie befriend the boy and come up with a plan to get even with the bullies…. making sure no one is physically hurt in the process.

I abandoned this book the first time I read it because of how one of the boys is obsessed by the Grandmother’s larger chest.  I just didn’t think it was necessary.  As I read the entire book this time, this issue is mentioned a few more times. The boys also like to look at their uncle’s girly calendar.  I imagine the author put these things in the book because she felt it was realistic for an adolescent to wonder and encounter these things. However, it left me with a sour taste. I did love how the boys befriended the boy who had special needs and created a nice friendship. This was a good example.The conclusion in how they get even was funny and satisfying.