Butt Sandwich & Tree

June 1, 2022
Brothers, one neurodivergent, team up to shoot baskets and find a thief. With the coach spit-bellowing at him to play better or get out, basketball tryouts are such a disaster for 11-year-old Green that he pelts out of the gym--becoming the chief suspect to everyone except his fiercely protective older brother, Cedar, when a valuable ring vanishes from the coach's office. Used to being misunderstood, Green is less affected by the assumption of his guilt than Cedar, whose violent reactions risk his suspension. Switching narrative duties in alternating first-person chapters, the brothers join forces to search for clues to the real thief--amassing notes, eliminating possibilities (only with reluctance does Green discard Ringwraiths from his exhaustive list of possible perps), and, on the way to an ingenious denouement, discovering several schoolmates and grown-ups who, like Cedar, see Green as his own unique self, not just another "special needs" kid. In an author's note, King writes that he based his title characters on family members, adding an element of conviction to his portrayals of Green as a smart, unathletic tween with a wry sense of humor and of Cedar's attachment to him as founded in real affection, not just duty. Ultimately, the author finds positive qualities to accentuate in most of the rest of the cast too, ending on a tide of apologies and fence-mendings. Cedar and Green default to White. Slick sleuthing punctuated by action on the boards and insights into differences that matter--and those that don't. (Fiction. 9-12)

COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 22, 2022
The urgent need to right a profound injustice fuels the tension in this whodunit from King (the Wizenard series), which follows two tightly bonded co-narrating brothers in the Toronto suburbs. Eleven-year-old Green Bennett calls himself “Butt Sandwich” as a play on Asperger’s syndrome, with which he’s been diagnosed. Heading into middle school, he takes comfort in his routines and his beloved mayonnaise and cheese sandwiches (“the peak of food”). But when his 13-year-old brother Cedar, known as Tree, pushes Green to join him on the school’s basketball team, the tryout results in disaster. And after the widowed basketball coach’s wedding ring goes missing the same day, Green is blamed for the theft, until the brothers—inspired by the Hardy Boys and Veronica Mars—resolve to uncover the culprit and clear Green’s name. While the greater school community harasses and ostracizes Green, he receives love and strong support from new friends as well as Cedar, and the story maintains an enjoyably cozy vibe as wrongs are righted and Green gains a greater understanding of his autistic identity. The Bennett siblings cue as white; an author’s note discusses the family-oriented seeds of King’s novel and contextualizes Green’s diagnosis. Ages 8–12. Agent: Brianne Johnson, Writers House.