Search - The Cartoonist (A Dell Yearling Book)

ISBN 0440410460 - Betsy Byars always does a good job with the various worlds of her young characters, and The Cartoonist is a great, if somewhat disturbing, example.

Alfie isn't just the youngest in his family, he is also the least. His mother loves her oldest son, Bubba, almost to the exclusion of her other two children. His grandfather, who also lives with them, rails against the government and has begun to feel useless, a feeling Alfie's mother reinforces often. Alma, Alfie's sister, is really the only adult in the house and through the book she slowly becomes vocal about Alfie's, and her own, dislike of their older brother, Bubba.

Alfie's family has moved many times, but this time they're in a house with an attic and Alfie has laid claim to it as his own retreat. Alma understands, but no one else seems to. Upstairs, Alfie draws cartoons, which he believes are works of art. Other things take a backseat to his interest in drawing, even school. His drawing and the attic are the most important things to him, so when Alma tells him that Bubba will be moving home, and bringing his wife, and that the couple will be living in the attic, the single thing Alfie has to call his own is threatened. His art isn't impressing people the way he thought it would, and now Bubba's going to take away Alfie's private space unless Alfie can find a way to stop him!

It's interesting that Alfie chooses humorous cartoons as his outlet, when throughout the book, he feels badly about himself that, unlike Bubba, he cannot make his mother laugh - worse, the only time he HAS made her laugh was by telling her a story about Bubba, but Alfie doesn't seem to realize that. Other than Alma, Alfie lives amongst people who don't seem capable of thinking of anyone but themselves. This Byars book is well worth reading, as usual. Richard Cuffari's illustrations are few but perfect.

- AnnaLovesBooks