The Garden of Eden Motel

I bought this book as a gift for my flower girl, who had never been to Idaho and was making her first trip. I read it and liked it, and there aren't many books set in Idaho for kids her age. She was absolutely absorbed--read it at the rehearsal, then at the rehearsal dinner, and there are even pictures of her with it in the pew at the wedding! Clearly it captures the attention. I think the book has three terrific strengths. First, unlike many kids books that attempt to beat kids over the head with the message of tolerance (and become boring doing it), this book deals with class tensions, gender differences, difficulties with blended families, etc. without any preaching or beating you over the head. This is the best of showing, instead of telling, and it gives a great message to kids: why you shouldn't tease those who are different, etc.Second, the narrrator's voice is convincing. We can believe that this is a boy telling the story, and his observations are consistent with his age and his understanding of the events around him. Finally, the book has an unusual setting and therefore gets the attention of kids. Very few children have ever been to a place like Eden, Idaho, which is convincingly portrayed here. Those who have been will recognize it, and many of those who haven't will be interested just by so different a world.

The Garden of Eden Motel...This is a well-written, well-plotted book about an almost-adolescent boy and his new step-father in the 1950s...The author--Morse Hamilton--nails it dead-on just how it was to be a kid during the S-L-O-W, innocent, and unenlightened Eisenhower era.He also put the words down exactly right about what it's like to have a new step-father, what it's like to be a new step-father, and what it's like to suddenly meet the very first girl who makes your stomach feel all funny...I suppose that some folk with 1990s style short attention spans might the piece slow going, but he's talking about a different time, and a different place.The dialogue rings true, really true.So do the characters.I don't have time or patience with most of the books written for children, or worse, for "Youth Ages 12 & Up". They're usually pretty silly stuff, and nowadays, they always seem to have some sort of MESSAGE that's kinda like the Moment Of Crap on TV, where the sit com writers let you know that AIDS is a "serious problem", or that one shouldn't be hateful, or sexist, or prejudiced.Thanks so much for tellin' me!There's none of that heavy-handed moralizing in The Garden of Eden Motel. It's old-fashioned good story telling, the kind that seems to have gone out of style, unfortunately...Confession: Morse Hamilton--and I went to junior high school together. As I write this, an image from the sandlots has just flashed before me. We were playing in a championship game, and the real Jimmy Beard (not the one mentioned once or twice in the book) fielded a hard-hit ground ball at shortstop and flipped it to me at second.I caught the ball, stepped on the bag, pivoted, and then made THE PERFECT THROW to Morse at first, which should have gotten us out of the ball game. I could almost feel my fingers wrapping themselves around the trophy.I can still see the ball going into his glove. And now I see it popping out and dribbling behind him."Yah booted it, More-Ass," I grumbled to myself later. "And we lost the game, YA JERK!"I didn't forgive him for three weeks, by which time he was out with his father in Idaho, which provides the back drop for this book.Now, I wouldn't say the Garden of Eden Motel was a good book if it wasn't, especially since Morse committed the error that cost us the championship forty-something years ago.But, believe me, he didn't muff this story. The piece is right on, and I'm glad he was able to finish it before he died. So, sail on, old friend. Sail on.