Module 5- Going Bovine

Book Cover Image:


Book Summary:

Libba Brays, Going Bovine, begins with Cameron, a Texas teenager, experiencing what he believes to be a marijuana induced hallucination during high school English class.  However, Cam is diagnosed with the human version of mad cow disease and soon encounters a punk-rock angel named Dulcie who insists that he go on a quest to find Dr. X who is the only one that has a cure and can save him.  The book details Cam and Gonzo’s (a hypochondriac dwarf Cam met in a stoner bathroom at school) journey to find Dr. X.  As hallucinations become stronger and harder to follow, the reader is able to recognize that the entire journey has been in Cam’s mind and the journey is simply the journey into madness.  Cameron, in a moment of clarity, recognizes that he has been his own worst enemy and upon dying, finds himself happy and sheltered by Dulcie. 

APA Reference of Book:  Bray, L. (2009). Going bovine. New York, NY: Random House Children's Books.

Impressions:
While the language of this book is how many teenagers of today talk at least with their peers, its use in this book may actually distract or even discourage people from finishing or enjoying the story contain within its pages.  I had a hard time with this book and I realize that was partially due to the language it contained as well as the ending of the book.  While I can recognize the literary merit of the book, and the reason for its Michael Printz Award, I did not enjoy the story itself.  This book will appeal to many teenagers as they are dealing with and experiencing many of these issues in their own lives, with one of the only exceptions being the diagnosis that Cameron receives.

Professional Review:

SOURCE:

School Library Journal 55 no9 151 S 2009

 Gr 8 Up-In this ambitious novel, Cameron, a 16-year-old slacker whose somewhat dysfunctional family has just about given up on him, as perhaps he himself has, when his diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jacob, "mad cow" disease, reunites them, if too late. The heart of the story, though, is a hallucinatory -- or is it? -- quest with many parallels to the hopeless but inspirational efforts of Don Quixote, about whom Cameron had been reading before his illness. Just like the crazy -- or was he? -- Spaniard, Cam is motivated to go on a journey by a sort of Dulcinea. His pink-haired, white-winged version goes by Dulcie and leads him to take up arms against the Dark Wizard and fire giants that attack him intermittently, and to find a missing Dr. X, who can both help save the world and cure him. Cameron's Sancho is a Mexican-American dwarf, game-master hypochondriac he met in the pot smokers' bathroom at school who later turns up as his hospital roommate. Bray blends in a hearty dose of satire on the road trip as Cameron leaves his Texas deathbed -- or does he? -- to battle evil forces with a legendary jazz horn player, to escape the evil clutches of a happiness cult, to experiment with cloistered scientists trying to solve the mysteries of the universe, and to save a yard gnome embodying a Viking god from the clutches of the materialistic, fame-obsessed MTV-culture clones who shun individual thought. It's a trip worth taking, though meandering and message-driven at times. Some teens may check out before Cameron makes it to his final destination, but many will enjoy asking themselves the questions both deep and shallow that pop up along the way.

Gordon, S. (2009, September). Going bovine. School Library Journal, 55(9), 151. Retrieved from http://www.slj.com/

Library Uses:
This book could be used in a book display of books, in the Young Adult section of the library, that have won the Michael Printz Award in Young Adult Literature.  The requirements for the award as well as information about Michael Printz would also be provided in the display.