Book It!: Outside Boy by Jeanine Cummins

The Outside Boy by Jeanine Cummins


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
It took some time for me to digest this very acute and woeful book. I wanted so much for the life of Christy, a young gypsy boy, to be simple and carefree and easy, full of green pastures and star-light nights. But the reality is, his mother died at birth, which is just about the only thing he knows about her. The death of his grandfather raises some questions and Christy, with the help of a serendipitous friendship from a local bookseller, embarks on a quest for answers.

I think part of why this book resonated so much with me was my own disastrous quest to meet my biological mother when I was 17. I had so many questions and it never occurred to me that my biological mother would not have similar ones. My story ended far differently than Christy’s but my experience helped me empathize with him on a different level.

In addition to the circumstances surrounding Christy’s quest, I really enjoyed learning about the Irish Pavee travellers and Outside Boy sparked and interest in reading more about their struggles.

More book reviews:  Book of Right & Wrong     Going in Circles       Lost Summer of L.M. Alcott