The Season of Styx Malone

by Kekla Magoon (Author)

Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade

A CORETTA SCOTT KING HONOR BOOK

Meet Caleb and Bobby Gene, two brothers embarking on a madcap, heartwarming, one-thing-leads-to-another adventure, for fans of As Brave As You by Jason Reynolds, Merci Suarez Changes Gears by Meg Medina, Front Desk by Kelly Yang, and One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia. Friendships are forged, loyalties are tested . . . and miracles just might happen.

Caleb Franklin and his big brother Bobby Gene are excited to have adventures in the woods behind their house. But Caleb dreams of venturing beyond their ordinary small town.

Then Caleb and Bobby Gene meet new neighbor Styx Malone. Styx is sixteen and oozes cool. Styx promises the brothers that together, the three of them can pull off the Great Escalator Trade--exchanging one small thing for something better until they achieve their wildest dream. But as the trades get bigger, the brothers soon find themselves in over their heads. Styx has secrets--secrets so big they could ruin everything.

Five best of the year lists!

NPR, HornBook, Kirkus Reviews, SLJ, Shelf Awareness Five starred reviews!"Reminiscent of now-classic works by Katherine Paterson, Natalie Babbitt and Lois Lowry, The Season of Styx Malone brings the darkness of fear and trauma into the bright sun of summer days." --Shelf Awareness, Starred

"Interweaving themes of risk taking and trust, betrayal and forgiveness, Magoon crafts a novel that is genuinely funny, heartbreaking, and uplifting--extraordinary, in fact." --Publishers Weekly, Starred

"Spending time with Styx, Caleb, and Bobby Gene is an experience no reader will soon forget." --The Horn Book, Starred

"Heartening and hopeful, a love letter to black male youth grasping the desires within them, absorbing the worlds around them, striving to be more otherwise than ordinary. Please share." --Kirkus Review, Starred

"A summertime romp filled with trouble-making, camaraderie, and substance." --School Library Journal, Starred

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Kirkus

Starred Review
Heartening and hopeful, a love letter to black male youth grasping the desires within them, absorbing the worlds around...

School Library Journal

Starred Review

Gr 4-7--Summertime in small-town Indiana only heightens 10-year-old Caleb's frustrations with feeling ordinary. When he and his older brother, Bobby Gene, meet smooth-talking 16-year-old Styx Malone, a whole new world of excitement, and its frequent companion trouble, opens up. Enthralled by cool kid Styx, Caleb and Bobby Gene are roped into an "escalator trade," whereby the boys attempt to trade small things for increasingly more valuable items in the hopes of eventually trading up to a shiny moped. The characters are magnetic; Styx in particular unfolds into a touchingly human young man withstanding the buffets of foster care. The themes of friendship, trust, rebellion, and safety strongly flavor the book without overpowering the easy fun. VERDICT A summertime romp filled with trouble-making, camaraderie, and substance. A solid purchase, especially for collections where realism circulates well.--Erin Reilly-Sanders, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review

This memorable novel about three African-American boys in small-town Indiana opens with a trade: Bobby Gene and his little brother, Caleb, swap their baby sister for a sack of fireworks. Though the child is returned immediately, the brothers (ages 11 and 10) get to keep the fireworks. But what to do with them? Enter Styx Malone, a charismatic teen (who's "sliding through the world like the air around him was greased"), who tells the siblings, "You just gotta learn how to make people give you things." Styx convinces them that the trio can make a profit on the fireworks and, through a creatively convoluted trade-up sequence (involving old car parts, a lawn mower, and some Harley-Davidson memorabilia), could end up owning a snazzy moped. Beneath the entertaining shenanigans runs an affecting emotional current: Styx has ricocheted from one foster home to another and aches for a loving home; narrator Caleb grapples with the fear that he is "ordinary" and feels smothered by his overprotective father. Interweaving themes of risk taking and trust, betrayal and forgiveness, Magoon (How It Went Down) crafts a novel that is genuinely funny, heartbreaking, and uplifting--extraordinary, in fact. Ages 8-12. Agent: Ginger Knowlton, Curtis Brown Ltd. (Oct.)

Copyright 2018 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

"Reminiscent of now-classic works by Katherine Paterson, Natalie Babbitt and Lois Lowry, The Season of Styx Malone brings the darkness of fear and trauma into the bright sun of summer days."
—Shelf Awareness, starred review

"A summertime romp filled with trouble-making, camaraderie, and substance."—School Library Journal, starred review 

"Spending time with Styx, Caleb, and Bobby Gene is an experience no reader will soon forget. "—Horn Book, starred review

"Interweaving themes of risk taking and trust, betrayal and forgiveness, Magoon (How It Went Down) crafts a novel that is genuinely funny, heartbreaking, and uplifting—extraordinary, in fact."—Publishers Weekly, starred review
Kekla Magoon
Kekla Magoon grew up in Indiana but wanted to see the rest of the world. Now she travels all over the country meeting young readers and sharing her books, which include The Rock and the River, Camo Girl, and Shadows of Sherwood (The Robyn Hoodlum Adventures series). She has won numerous awards for her work, including four Coretta Scott King Honors, an NAACP Image Award, the Walter Award Honor, and inclusion on the National Book Award Long List. She holds a BA from Northwestern University and an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, where she now serves on faculty. Visit her online at keklamagoon.com and you'll see: she is anything but ordinary!
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781524715984
Lexile Measure
510
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Wendy Lamb Books
Publication date
December 03, 2019
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV039060 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Friendship
JUV011010 - Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | United States - African-American
JUV013070 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Siblings
Library of Congress categories
African Americans
Adventure and adventurers
Adventure stories
Families
Family life
Indiana
Foster children
Coretta Scott King Award
Honor Book 2019 - 2019

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