Breakfast Served Anytime - Hardcover

Combs, Sarah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0763667919 ISBN 13: 9780763667917

Publisher: Candlewick, 2014

Synopsis

A coming-of-age debut evokes the bittersweet joys and pangs of finding independence in one unforgettable summer away at "geek camp."

When Gloria sets out to spend the summer before her senior year at a camp for gifted and talented students, she doesn’t know quite what to expect. Fresh from the heartache of losing her grandmother and missing her best friend, Gloria resolves to make the best of her new circumstances. But some things are proving to be more challenging than she expected. Like the series of mysterious clues left by a certain Professor X before he even shows up to teach his class, Secrets of the Written Word. Or the very sweet, but very conservative, roommate whose coal-industry family champions mountaintop removal. Not to mention the obnoxious Mason, who dresses like the Mad Hatter and immediately gets on Gloria’s nerves — but somehow won’t escape her thoughts. Beautifully told by debut author Sarah Combs, this honest and touching story of growing up is imbued with the serene atmosphere of Kentucky’s natural landscape.

About this title

About the Author

Sarah Combs leads writing workshops at a nonprofit literacy center in Lexington, Kentucky, where she lives with her two young sons, two pacifist bird dogs, and her modern-day Atticus Finch of a husband, whose acquaintance she first made at a geek camp not unlike Gloria’s. Breakfast Served Anytime is her first novel.

Reviews

Gr 9 Up—This earnest but patchy debut is as much a love letter to Kentucky as it is a novel about rising high school senior Gloria's transformative summer at "Geek Camp." During her four weeks on the campus of Morlan College, the temperamental and snarky teen grieves for her recently deceased grandmother, makes lifelong friends, has classes at a diner, develops a crush, and ponders her future. After graduation, should she move to New York City with her best friend to pursue acting, or should she accept a full scholarship to the University of Kentucky? The ambitious story is as overloaded as a blue-plate special, tackling racism, death, sexuality, religion, family, mountain top removal, and myriad other weighty topics. Motifs (blue butterflies and To Kill a Mockingbird, to name two) seem more inserted on top of the plot than integrated into it. Readers may find it difficult to get behind Gloria because her character fluctuates so hugely: she's immature enough to hate a stranger because he wears an odd hat but is mature enough to read Henry James and understand T. S. Eliot. However, the author's palpable affection for her state and the sweet-as-Kentucky-pie passages ("the sunlight slanting through the trees was getting soft and syrupy in that way that makes you miss things that aren't even gone yet.") guarantee that Breakfast Served Anytime will have solid regional appeal.—Chelsey Philpot, Boston University, MA

“Geek Camp” for talented and gifted Kentucky teens is a life-changing event for Gloria Bishop and her three classmates. During the four-week period, Glo, Chloe, Calvin, and Mason develop a deep bond as they undergo transitions, realizations, and awakenings together, based on the subtle understanding that they are allowed to be themselves with one another. By the end of the term, Glo knows that some of the hardest challenges require the simplest solutions, and she is happily aware that her future may not be limited to what she had once planned. Beautifully drawn characters populate this affecting first novel, each of them real enough to be hug-worthy. It is a story of friendships more than of young love (though a blushing crush certainly fits in nicely), and when a gay character comes out to her friends, it is handled without gasps or fanfare. There is much to be savored in this book for those who want a story about real life and real friendship. Grades 7-10. --Jeanne Fredriksen

Edition details

• Publisher: Candlewick
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0763667919
• ISBN 13: 9780763667917
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272