BLUE

by James DeVita

Overview

"It's been difficult for Morgan," the old man said. "It was difficult for me too when I was his age. I thought something was very wrong with me. I always knew that I felt things differently than other people, and that I looked different than other people, but I never said anything. When I got older and tried to talk about it, they told me I was sick. They wanted to fix me. I was very young. It scared me. And I stopped believing. And then I stopped becoming."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781736651209
Publisher:	Words, Words, Words
Publication date:	04/01/2021
Edition description:	Blue 2nd Edition
Pages:	222
Sales rank:	922,979
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.47(d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

"A poignant, gently humorous, and highly original tale."

"Magical."









PICK OF THE LIST, American Booksellers Association
BEST BETS FOR THE CLASSROOM 2001

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

Morgan had never been in an ambulance before. It was smaller inside than he had imagined. His mother and two paramedics were in the back with him, Mrs. Pasalaqua was in the front seat with the driver, and his father was following in the family car. Lights were flashing, sirens were screaming, and Morgan just wished they'd all stop making such a big deal.

"What's your name?" asked one of the paramedics. He flicked a small penlight across Morgan's eyes. "Do you know your name?"

"That's a stupid question," Morgan thought, "of course I know my name."

"Your name?" the guy asked again, this time putting his hand in front of Morgan's face. "Okay, how many fingers am I holding up? What day of the week is it? Do you know what today is?"

"What's with these guys?" thought Morgan. "C'mon, Morgan," said the other paramedic, "do you know where you are? Talk to us."

"Morgan? Morgan, honey, answer the man," his mother added.

Morgan tried to...but couldn't.

"Mmpghmmnghp" was all that came out. He tried to move his lips, but they wouldn't budge. "Mmpgghgmnp!" Still nothing. He couldn't open his mouth. He stretched his face and twisted his nose, dropped his chin, furrowed his brows, and pulled with all his might...but his lips wouldn't move.

"Stop making faces at the nice man, Morgan," snapped his mother.

"I'm not making faces, I can't open my mouth!" Morgan yelled, grabbing his mother's hand. But all that came out was "Aomn mou mghigh aieies, uaow ain ouwamm mm mmauoeu!"

The paramedic quickly leaned into Morgan with a puzzled look on his face. He reached across him, snatched up a tongue depressor, and aimedit at Morgan's mouth, but missed and stabbed the pillow as the ambulance swerved into the hospital parking lot and stopped with a sharp screech. The back doors were flung open, and the paramedics hurriedly began unclicking and reclacking all kinds of things. They rolled and bumped Morgan out of the ambulance and wheeled him across the parking lot. Morgan stared up at the night sky. The gurney popped a little wheelie as it thumped over a speed bump.

"This isn't a grocery cart, you know," Morgan thought, shooting the paramedic a look.

One more thump up a curb, and the stars disappeared from Morgan's view. The bright lights of the hospital loomed over him.

"Aiooioaiiouummphooieaiinuuaaiieeaae!" (Why is everybody making such a big deal!) he screamed.

The paramedics wheeled Morgan into the emergency room.

Editorial Reviews

"A tender testament to following one's heart."

From the Publisher

Slack pacing mars this first novel, a fantasy about a boy who is, literally, a fish out of water. Morgan lives in a gray city with parents who are completely wrapped up in their own routines. After a talking marlin appears to Morgan in a dream, Morgan's transformation begins: he loves baths and develops a liking for anchovies, and scales begin to appear on his body. His parents rush him to the hospital, where doctors try to diagnose and cure him. Half-men, half-marlins rescue Morgan from the hospital (they stopped transforming because they "stopped believing"). DeVita's cleverest moments center around these half-marlins: they often talk and move in unison, like a school of fish, and wear overcoats and hats to hide their marlin marks. But the author spends so much time setting up the premise describing Morgan's physical changes, the doctors' study of these changes, Morgan's escape and then his fish training that readers never get to empathize with the characters, much less immerse themselves in Morgan's experience. Ages 10-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 5-9-Morgan's life is boring, his overprotective parents are dull, and his weekends are routinely uneventful. Then the boy dreams of being visited by a massive and beautiful fish, and suddenly his imagination becomes the mainstay of his life. When he becomes sick and feverish, he's rushed to the hospital, where his imagination and dreams merge, and thus begins Morgan's strange metamorphosis into a blue marlin. The doctors, smelling scientific glory, are driven to make medical history, and Morgan is curious and enthused about his situation. He's happy as a clam to be submerged into a big tank, his newly developing dorsal fin fanning out in full glory. The only unsettling conflict in his life is whether the doctors will perform emergency surgery to stop the mighty fin from completely emerging from, and simultaneously destroying, his spine. To the rescue come partially morphed marlin-men, helping Morgan to escape the surgery, and setting him free to swim away into the wild blue sea. The story unfolds slowly, scale by scale. While Morgan seems comfortable with his newfound destiny, there's never any driving cause that explains his need for such a dramatic transformation. Boredom on any given Saturday morning doesn't cut it. Without an emotionally engaged motive or monumental crisis to explain the protagonist's unquenchable desire to escape his life, the story remains shallow.-Alison Follos, North Country School, Lake Placid, NY Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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