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Setting Free the Kites by George Alex
It is the end of summer in Maine, 1976. Robert Carter is about to enter eighth grade, nervous for the bullying he knows will resume once school starts again. Just as a bully starts flushing his head down the school's toilet, in steps brave new kid Nathan Tilly, and a strong friendship instantly forms! Together, Robert and Nathan face the deaths of Robert's father and Nathan's brother, which cement their relationship even further. They take summer jobs at Robert's family's amusement park based on the tale of King Arthur, and their boyhood becomes the stuff of legend.
Review from School Library Journal Starred:
It's 1976, and on the first day of eighth grade, Hollis Calhoun is flushing Robert Carter's head down the school's toilet. Enter new boy Nathan Tilly, and the scene changes as a friendship forms. Robert and Nathan bring out the best in each other just long enough to cope with the deaths of Nathan's father and Robert's brother. Despite the tragedies, readers won't feel weighed down. Like the kites Nathan sets free, the prose soars as the author tackles first loves, best friends, and clever acts of revenge. George employs a style similar to that of Jean Shepherd (author of A Christmas Story), conjuring up a run-down amusement park, a man with a toe for a thumb, a dead mongoose, a chain-smoking dragon, and more. Also included are an oddly placed World War II flashback story and an unnecessarily long epilogue, but neither will detract from readers' enjoyment. The humor and poignancy of the boys' parallel experiences will give teens something to consider and discuss.
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