Wishbone is the story of the wild adventures of a nearly-teen boy, his magical cat, and their friends. The narrative focuses on the struggles of the protagonist, Ollie, to save the world from a mystical threat that could end it entirely, while also struggling with concerns about what it means to be a friend to others and how to handle resentment against others. Ollie wrestles with the reactions of others, particularly bullies, to his gender identity and sexual orientation throughout the book, and this character is one that transgender and queer readers may find very relatable. This is a story in which the queer character is the hero in the front and center and not a sidekick or acquaintance added in as an afterthought. The only character that sometimes steals the spotlight and the audience’s heart away from Ollie is his cat, Wishbone; truth be told, it is difficult for any character to compete with an adorable cat when it comes to being charming. The rest of the cast of characters in the book provide a mix of personalities and outlooks, and the kind and brave ones sometimes shine brighter as heroes than Ollie himself, while the villains are disturbing and unashamedly evil.
On its surface, the story of Wishbone has the makings of an engaging read. A cute cat, a relatable protagonist with real struggles even before magic gets throw into the mix, magic, horror, humor. However, the book fails to deliver on its promise. At times, it seems that the narrative can’t really decide which direction to go. The young heroes of the story are definitely appealing to kids, but the horror aspects and imagery are at times graphic in ways that are likely to be viscerally scary or traumatic to a young audience rather than to be spooky and entertaining. The books seems to want to be a horror or very dark fantasy story, but there is enough silly humor that it doesn’t really accomplish this, either. The plot moves along at a quick place, but throughout it, those points feel disjointed and like things just happen in the narrative with no rhyme, reason or explanation. In a fantasy book, obviously everything won’t be explained or seem realistic because it’s not realism, but in this book, it seems that things happen more because they are convenient for the plot that for any reason that makes sense within the world that’s been built. After a while, this leads to a disinterest in how things are going to progress and erodes sympathy for the characters and their plight. While this book has some positive aspects in that the friends are true friends and the description and imagery is immersive, those high points fail to sustain the suspense of the disjointed plot from collapsing.
Review of an Advanced Reading Copy from the Publisher
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: 10 religious exclamations (including “OMG”).
Violence/Gore: Several verbal threats; a fight in school without major injury; a character considers harming others are few times; a character almost suffocates; a creepy scene with spooky imagery and a person with monstrous features; an injured animal is found, with blood described; a few tense scenes in which a grotesque or bloody monsters chase children, without major injury; report of a house fire; an animal bites characters without major injury a few times; report of a death by disease; a joke about blood sacrifices; a character finds bloody and gross animal experiments; a character reads an account of cruel animal experimentation; a character finds dried blood; scary monsters are described a few times; animals are killed by striking a car; characters spar; a fight between children, teens, and monsters with bloody injury and death; a character kills their mother in a bloody attack; character are partially coated in blood after a fight; a character gets a bloody nose; a character bites a small animal’s head off; characters are attacked by their parents, who have been transformed into monsters, and a fight ensues; a few fights between children and monsters without major injury; an animal is hurt and experimented on, and this is described from the animal’s point of view; several people, including one prominent protagonist, are transformed into grotesque monsters; a man’s flesh is rotting, with muscles and bones beneath described.
Sex/Nudity: A character jokes that a boy is another boy’s boyfriend; mention of a “binder” used in playing sports; discussion of a girl’s crush on another girl; report of kids holding hands and dating; a few reports that teen characters are bisexual or lesbian; report of an adult man having an extramarital affair; a man and woman kiss; mention of bisexuality, along with joking speculation that an animal may be bisexual; discussion of steps a trans boy uses to deal with puberty, specifically breasts and a period; teens affectionately use “PDA” in public, with no details other than it’s enough to make a boy who sees it uncomfortable; a character’s body is modified by magic to more closely match their declared gender; a few instances were a boy is awkward or nervous around another boy he has a crush on; a boy fantasizes about holding another boy’s hand; a boy comes out to a friend as gay; boys hold hands while on a date; two teen girls kiss; a boy notices his close proximity to another boy, who he has a crush on, while they are sparring; two boys almost kiss, but are interrupted; teens flirt verbally a few times, sometimes with members of the same gender.
Mature Subject Matter:
A major protagonist is transgender; bullying; transphobia; marital struggles; poverty; homosexuality and lesbianism; arson; death (relative; parent); gender issues including body modification; murder; report of a person dropping out of school to raise a child; cruel animal and human experimentation; loss of a friend; parents neglect their children to the point that it is, or is almost, abusive; characters discuss R-rated horror movies, by title in several cases.
Alcohol/Drug Use:
None
