Lawn Boy snagged my attention because it was authored by Gary Paulsen (author of Hatchet) and I was curious.  This is really more of a novella than a book and clocks in at under 100 pages.  Much different than Paulsen’s survival books, this is a humorous book set firmly in suburbia.  The protagonist is somewhat baffled by his snow-balling economic success as a lawn boy.  There is lots of financial lingo and rapid-fire explanations of investment and market strategies from a fast-talking broker that mostly go over the protagonist’s head and most likely will whiz over any 12-year-old reader’s head, too.  (It also gives an unrealistic picture of the realities of investing and business, but that isn’t the point of the story.) However, it is funny and fast and may inspire future capitalists of the world.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  None

Violence/Gore:  Confrontation between men where 1 shakes the other and throws him into another, power-drives another into the window of vehicle, and throws individuals into a vehicle (1 page scene); verbal threats (3); individual tied up; sounds of confrontation heard and characters see man thrown into a tree, another man jammed into a dishwasher; character says they would like to see the snot pounded out of someone; characters attend a boxing match.

Sex/Nudity:  Report that man ran off with one of his customer’s wife; mention of puberty; character observes that the women at a boxing match don’t have a lot of clothes on.

Mature Subject Matter:

Undocumented workers (mention); capitalism/investments.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

None