Golden Boy-good-time chapter reading for those who think they don’t want to

Golden Boy is kind of like the Afterschool Special that you never saw. The Afterschool Special was usually smaltzy movies that were on ABC ( a television network that Disney purchased….) and usually had soft melodramatic lessons on empathy. They had popular teen actors like John Travolta, Jodie Foster or maybe even Kristy McNichol staring in them. Golden Boy reminds us of those movies, but is a much more lighthearted, comedic version. It’s very easy to enjoy Golden Boy, but it does require you to suspend disbelief and believe that a dog can be transformed into a teen. OK, maybe to some people Golden Boy is the canine and football version of Freaky Friday. However, since that inspiration also starred Jodie Foster and was from the mid-70s, we’re taking the win on the reference. *

Disarming is an adjective that immediately pops into mind when you start reading Golden Boy. Even before you jump into the text, savy readers will notice that the sides of the pages have a wavy, unpredictable hair pattern throughout it. When readers open the book, the inside jacket continues that pattern and will remind people of a golden retriever. The book starts with a two-page prologue. Emma, a high school student, is about to administer a vaccine of some kind to Hudson, her dog. It’s obvious that she’s spent a long time researching this vaccine, but that she’s unsure if it’ll be successful and that it’s highly experimental.

Chapter 1 has a footnote under its title saying that it happened less than twelve hours earlier. This device is used very effectively because it infers to young readers that the action hits its rising climax very soon. In reference to Golden Boy, young readers is a relative point. This mglit book can be enjoyed by those in upper-elementary school. Mglit casts a wide net, and Golden Boy is one of those books that can fill every corner of it. The middle grade reader who is reluctant will enjoy the silly premise of a dog becoming a boy. The established reader in those grades, as well as, the lower high school audiences, will be charmed by the irrepressible nature of the story and its situation.

Golden Boy is not for the logically inclined who aren’t able to fathom a dog becoming a teenage boy. This is a romp of a fun time that puts enjoyment and good times in the front seat. There’s a side dose of Don Knotts-inspired science in the book for good measure. ** If your science starts and ends with Carl Sagan, then this book is not your jam.

If, however, you can let your mind’s eye wander as you think about a newly human entity playing football and socializing with teens, then you’ll read this book effortlessly. So it’s Teen Wolf, but a golden retriever playing football instead of basketball?*** No, it’s not like that, but it’s cut from the same cloth.

Emma is a STEM obsessed student. She’s also the daughter of the high school football coach. They have a brother on the football team who tries hard, but never impresses his father as much as he wants to. Emma loves her dog, Hudson, who has a tragic accident at the hands of her brother. They take Hudson to the vet, but it’s really expensive and might not be successful. Emma has been working on a serum that involves stem cells that alter DNA, but it’s never been tried on a living subject.

Hudson recovers from the accident and almost immediately has side effect. His snout shrinks. The hair on his body decreases. How will Hudson communicate with anybody other than Emma?

Again, if you’re going to obsess over any of these points, then Golden Boy is not your jam. If you’re willing to go with the flow and simply enjoy the book then the book will pay dividends.

The book’s events hurtle towards a satisfying conclusion that is not what some readers will be expecting. Readers are conditioned to think that it’ll end in a certain fashion. However, some readers will roll their eyes if it ended that way because it would be too smaltzy and Hallmark. Everyone who reads Golden Boy wants a happy ending and would riot if the dog dies at the end.  Yet, if it’s too predictable then it wouldn’t be believable; not that a dog becoming a human is the front burner stuff of non-fiction reading.

Golden Boy is a book that speaks to reluctant readers and people who like to read with equal enthusiasm. It also communicates to boy and girl readers at the same ratio. Mglit readers like dogs, they like body swap stories, they like to read light-hearted stories about high school with characters who not too dissimilar from those from their neighborhood. Readers aged eight and up will like Golden Boy. It’s an easy sell to get kids to read it. You might not even need to sell them on it, just show them the book’s cover, and it’ll do the heavy lifting.

*Unless you’re strictly talking about the 2003 remake, which is still a kindred spirit of Golden Boy.

** Especially in The Incredible Mr. Limpet, where a timid man is transformed into an animated fish.

***Teen Wolf, the movie, not the MTV series that was more serious and less fun.

Golden Boy is by A. J. Symon and available on Simon & Schuster BFYR, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

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