Comfort

by Carolee Dean

Overview

Kenny Williams wants out of Comfort, Texas–away from his abusive, workaholic mother, his ex-convict father, and his small-town life. This gritty story of poetry slams, country music, and small town conflicts coils in a tangle of tragedy and hope.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780618439126
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/07/2004
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	656,449
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.00(h) x 0.63(d)
Lexile:	670L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Speech pathologist Carolee Dean published Comfort in 2002. 
 

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 3 I wiped down the counter while Mama busied herself off in the back with the tapes returned from record producers in Nashville. So far not one of them had recognized the vocal talents of Roy Dan Willson, and it was driving Mama crazy. It had only been two weeks and already everything Mama had sent out had been returned. I wondered if anybody ever listened to the tapes or if they just sent them back as soon as they arrived.
Mama muttered under her breath as she put new mailing labels on the brown envelopes and got ready to send them out again. “No ear for talent,” she said half a dozen times. “I don’t understand it,” Mama droned as she hid the extra tapes behind the dishwashing soap. It was a place Daddy was sure never to look. “They come back so fast. It just ain’t logistical.” “Do you mean it ain’t ‘logical’?” I said, doubting that she was talking about the logistics of mailing items between Nashville and Comfort.
Mama shoved a mop bucket at me. “I meant whatever I said, and I said whatever I meant. Now go clean the floor in the dining room.” I carried the bucket out front and started mopping from one side of the dining room to the other, wondering how I’d ever find the time to prepare for the poetry competition.
Mrs. Peterson says words have power. If that’s true then the most potent thing in my life during that time when Daddy first got home was the word “Dallas.” That’s where I was going. I wasn’t stupid about it, though. I watched the news and Sixty Minutes. I knew what happened to runaways out on the streets. I wasn’t going to be out on the streets. I had a plan. And I wasn’t running away. I was merely going to relocate prematurely. The mistake most kids make is that they fly off the handle and get scared or mad at their parents and just take off from home without thinking about it ahead of time. Not me. I’d been thinking about leaving for a long time.

Editorial Reviews

"Dean has superbly woven poets and poetry into the teen's story. Outstanding writing, strong characterization and plot development, and good background information make this title rise above many other recent genre entries." — School Library Journal, starred School Library Journal, Starred —

From the Publisher

Gr 7-10-Set in Comfort, TX, this tightly written coming-of-age story begins with Kenny Roy Willson applying for a hardship driver's license. He's only 14, but his mother has doctored his birth certificate to make him 15, the legal age. She needs Kenny to drive his daddy, soon to be home from the penitentiary, to AA meetings since he had 23 DWIs before he robbed the liquor store. Kenny is a good kid, talented in band and football, but his mother makes him give up both. He is also a gifted writer. Mama has plans for her son-to slave away at their 24-hour family caf , to quit school at 16, and to unconditionally support her dream for her husband to become a country-and-western singer. But the teen has his own dream-to leave home. As the bookkeeper, he collects the pay that Mama never gives him and adds it to his "Dallas Fund." Plus, he enters the poetry-interpretation and newswriting segments of the University Interscholastic League competition with the hope of adding to his stash. Kenny is a strong, insightful character who maintains his gentle sense of humor in the most desperate circumstances and gains some understanding of his parents' struggles. Even though he is dealt some hard blows, readers know that he is a survivor. Dean has superbly woven poets and poetry into the teen's story. Outstanding writing, strong characterization and plot development, and good background information make this title rise above many other recent genre entries.-Lynn Bryant, Great Bridge Middle School, Chesapeake, VA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Freshman Kenny Willson' s alcoholic father is coming home from prison just as Kenny has been saving money to leave small-town Comfort, Texas, where his verbally and physically abusive Mama runs a dive cafe and dreams of turning Kenny's father into a country singing star. Already forced to give up two of his loves-football and band-to slave away in the restaurant, Kenny's only chance of earning enough money is through writing and interpretative oral poetry competitions in the University Interscholastic League. Even this opportunity is shattered when his mother demands that he quit school to work full time in the cafe. This becomes one of many broken dreams within his dysfunctional family. But when Kenny finds the power of words, particularly in poetry, and stands up to Mama, he may have a shot at a more normal teenage life. First-time author Dean offers a realistic milieu in which Kenny teeters back and forth in loving and loathing his family, though the plot edges toward soap opera. Kenny's crude grammar full of "ain'ts" in his dialogue seems at odds with the proper speech of his narrating voice, but he does acknowledge the difference. Although the ending is too pat, readers who crave independence and a way to break destructive family cycles will take interest, as will fans of poetry and poetry slams. (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Reviews