Blue Like Friday

By Author: Alex Armas
Total Articles: 74
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Some things are best described with color. This is true for Hal; to him, Fridays are blue. However, Hal's best friend, Olivia, has a hard time understanding Hal's metaphor. How can Friday be blue?
This novel shares the life experiences of two adolescents living in Ireland. Hal is miserable after his mother invites her boyfriend, Alec, to live with them. He tries everything he can to disrupt the relationship, from leaving pebbles in Alec's shoes to boosting the water bill by leaving the water running to giving Alec the silent treatment. Finally, Hal concocts an ultimate plan that will get rid of Alec for good, and he involves Olivia in the drama.

Hal's plan is to send Alec on a wild goose chase so that he misses watching Hal's mother play in a golf tournament. The goal is to infuriate his mother to the point of kicking Alec out of the house, which seems to be working Fake Watches until Alec turns up missing. As Olivia and Hal speak with a policewoman named Sonya, Hal shares details about his father's death. At age 5, he found his father dead and only remembers three things about ...
... him: (1) he had chestnut brown shoes, (2) he once flew a kite with Hal, and (3) he died on a Friday. With this information, Sonya shares her experience of kite flying with her father in China during the Festival of Pure Brightness. This festival will soon become a piece of Hal's healing process.

When Alec turns up OK, everyone's attention turns to Hal's mother, who fails to return from the golf tournament, leaving Hal alone with Alec. In a strange twist of events, the prank is on Hal. His mother goes missing to give Hal and Alec time to bond and depend on each other. Hal discovers Alec isn't as bad as he thought—exactly what his mother wanted with her missing act. In the end, Hal makes peace with the fact that his father is dead and there is a new man in the house. He remembers Sonya's words about the Festival of Pure Brightness. He learns that the festival is a time to honor the dead by releasing kites into the sky as a gift to one's ancestors. Hal offers his blue kite up to his father—his blue kite that is blue like Friday.

Siobhan Parkinson shares a story of two adolescents trying to figure out life. Writing from Olivia's point of view, the narrator candidly converses with the reader using wit and humor. Olivia's authentic Irish dialect can be challenging Replica Watches to the reader at times, but Parkinson includes a glossary of terms at the end of the text. Because of the narrator's voice, the tone is light despite the serious topics, including death, relationships, and abandonment. I would recommend this book to students in grades 6—9. The story is well written and an enjoyable read for all reading levels.