Shelly's Book Blog

Libba Bray's Going Bovine received YALSA's 2010 Printz award. The description of the book on the YALSA web site reads, "Cameron, a sixteen-year-old slacker, sets off on a madcap road trip along with a punk angel, a dwarf sidekick, a yard gnome and a mad scientist to save the world and perhaps his own life." I found the book to be even more weird than this description suggests. Cameron is dying from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, also known as mad cow disease, so while Cameron's adventures really occur only in his imagination, his narration makes everything seem very real. Cameron begins the book by describing a traumatic experience he had at the Disneyland Small World ride when he was a child. Throughout most of the book he seems brooding and negative. For example, on page 1 he says his life from age 5 to 16 has been filled with "major suckage." However, Cameron's very strange journey leads to some positive moments and profound self-disovery.

I struggled reading this book and can't say I truly enjoyed it. However, I do look back on the story and appreciate that it is very imaginative, and that it tackles important life issues in a creative and interesting way.