FernFolio

The first thing Tom remembers is walking, his back and backside screaming in pain. He has forgotten everything that came before, family, friends, school, his last name. In his backpack he finds a notebook with notes about Mozart and a candy heart imprinted with the words You are nice, so he concludes that he is nice, and when he finds a big native man standing at the river’s edge praying and weeping, he asks if he can help. The native man, Samuel Wolflegs, is looking for his son, Daniel, a drug addict, who is living on the streets. Samuel looks at Tom and sees him as the answer to his prayers. Although loser is the first word Tom hears after forgetting, Samuel calls him a finder and asks him to look for his son.
Armed with his notebook, in which he compulsively records what he finds and a mind so empty of memory and preconception that each new experience, large and small, resonates in his heart and soul and intellect, Tom sets out to find Daniel. On his 3-month journey, he finds Jenks, a homeless man who sees ghosts, Jeans, a claustrophobic chicken cooker from Jamaica who longs to get home so he can marry his sweetheart, Gina, and Pam, a beautiful young girl sliding down the slippery slope into prostitution. He also finds that he possesses strengths and abilities; he can spell, he can run fast and swim, he can work out deals for food, a locker, clothing and the occasional shower, and he can make things true by writing about them.
Martine Leavitt’s Tom Finder is a moving story about a young man who looks for another lost youth and finds himself. Written in words that flow like poetry, this book is a must read for students from Grade 7.
Fern Folio Editor