Sprout by Dale Peck

Daniel “Sprout” Bradford has a secret. It’s not that his mother died or his father’s drinking or even that he’s gay—although given he now lives in rural Kansas, he probably should’ve kept that last one a secret. There’s not much this sarcastic but undeniably intelligent green-haired guy aspires to, except to make it out of Kansas one day. In the meantime, he just exists, survives, tries to be himself. But as time passes, Sprout realizes that it isn’t quite possible to just watch life pass around him, and he isn’t quite prepared—nor is anyone else—when he realizes the impact he’s had on the people around him.

Sprout is a very difficult novel to summarize because it is essentially Sprout’s life story and most intimate thoughts, and it’s virtually impossible to shorten someone’s life into a few concise statements. That being said, you can’t really pick up this novel and know what to expect from the plot. Having finished the novel, I don’t even think there was any obvious objective to Sprout’s tale. None of that explains why I liked Sprout so much. This story was hilarious with Sprout’s fantastic sense of humor but also heartbreaking and deep with its discussion of love and death. Probably what I liked most was how vivid and real Sprout was; this allowed me to understand him better and made me so interested in his story. I love how Sprout is such a unique and unapologetic character. Really, every inch of this story is natural and realistic from all the minor characters even to all the strange situations Sprout finds himself in; Sprout is so real, it often felt like he existed off the pages of the book. Perhaps that what makes Sprout such a great read, that fact that Sprout is such an authentic person that all readers will be able to sympathize with him even if they aren’t green-haired homosexual males.

Sprout is a moving read that will entertain readers and make them think. I recommend this novel to fans of King of the Screwups by K.L. Going and the Sloppy Firsts series by Megan McCafferty.

Rating: 4.5

Review copy from Amazon Vine