's underdeveloped, no good at sports, his social life's non-existent and he's completely ignored by girls. Plus, living at home with his seriously depressed mother Adele is far too emotionally taxing for a kid his age to deal with. But everything changes one Labor Day weekend when a mysterious drifter named Frank, an escaped convict, serendipitously becomes an intimate part of Henry's world.Through a sequence of events in which Frank basically holds Henry and Adele hostage, the threesome get to know each other on very intimate terms. In addition to making Adele feel needed (though with admittedly unorthodox tactics) Frank teaches Henry about life, lessons he's seemingly primed for learning. In the course of their five days together, Henry learns how to throw a baseball, the trick to getting a piecrust just right, some cryptic secrets about the opposite sex, what family really means and the ageless rule of selfless love.
Maynard, author of To Die For and Where Love Goes, writes a very readable book. Labor Day, as a story, is as accessible to teenagers as it is to seniors, retaining its authenticity and timeless themes while entertaining its audience with a tender, but not too sappy scenario. Henry is like many youths just on the brink of adolescence--timid, awkward and confused. And while his first-person narration gives more details than interpretations, the fundamental truths of his predicament are well-implemented and ultimately revealed as the story is played out in the course of his encounter with Frank, a fairy godmother/guardian angel of sorts, who orchestrates a marked turning point in Henry's life. (FIC MAYNARD)
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