by Barbara O’Connor
ages: 9+
First sentence: “DRIP.”
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This book is about boredom. About finding something to do, something unusual, something small, something… well adventurous. I’d like to hand it to all the plugged-in kids and say, “Here! Read. Be inspired. Go out and have a small adventure. You might find it changes things, even if it doesn’t really change things.”

Popeye — formerly Henry until his Uncle Dooley accidentally shot his eye out when he was three — is bored. There is absolutely nothing to do in Fayette, South Carolina except sit and listen to Velma — that’s his grandma — recite the kings of England (in order) and write down her vocabulary words in chalk on the porch. Until one day an RV, a Holiday Rambler, full of a family with rambunctious kids, gets stuck in the mud by Popeye’s house. The oldest is Elvis, and Popeye is immediately entranced. Elvis is everything Popeye is not: loud, rowdy, the Royal Rule Breaker, someone who can say “So what?” and actually mean it. And so, when Elvis suggests that he and Popeye have an adventure, Popeye can’t help but go along with it.

Remember, now, that the title is “Small Adventure”. There is no grand discovery, even if there’s a bit of a mystery. There is no angst. There is no death (though there is missing parents; thankfully, it’s just accepted as a fact and not something that Popeye has to Deal With). There is no drama, though there is wrath. What there is, is a perfectly simple, small adventure that changes one boy’s life.

And was something that completely mesmerized and entranced me.

(Just for the record: because this is a Cybils nominee, I’ve been asked to make sure y’all know this is my opinion only, and not that of the panel.)