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(More customer reviews)Reviewed by Richard R. Blake for Reader Views (5/11)
Bill Walker has created "The B'Breakerboys" as a movie script embedded with storyboard picture frames drawn by Steve Worthington. Unique characters are described in detail. Camera and action instructions are clear and move the action along.
In the initial scene Grandpa B'Billy is telling a story to his grandchildren. In a voice over he narrates an introduction to coal mining in Pennsylvania, the leading producer of coal for over 200 years. He describes working conditions in the times before child labor laws were in force when eight to eighteen-year-old boys worked twelve to sixteen hours a day, six days a week for twenty-five cents a day.
The story is made up of story within a story; the first story is based on a factual account of a mine explosion and collapse that took place in 1937. This is followed with a fictional account; two teenage boys, Billy Morgan, and Charlie Durst on an afternoon hike decide to take a shortcut across a cow pasture. Unexpectedly Red Eye, an ex-rodeo bull, begins a violent pawing and bucking that sent the boys running. They did not see the warning signs "Danger Open Shaft" as they made their escape somehow getting through the barbed wire fence.
Walker's writing is engaging. I found myself fascinated with his descriptions of the coal mining operations, the economic, and demographic mix, and all of the background information conveyed through the storyboard illustrations and voiceover narrative. I better understand the old cliché "a picture is worth a thousand words." Walker had me hooked: the dialog and storyboard moved the action forward at a rapid rate: While exploring the abandoned mine shaft it collapses. The boys are trapped. They soon discover that they are not alone in the underground mine. There is one sole survivor of the mine cave-in three years earlier, a 13-year-old, Andy.
Andy shares the story of his survival. Rising water, large rats, unstable dynamite, fire, snakes and huge spiders all add to the fright of the trapped teenagers. Conditions in the mine are now tentative as indications of another severe cave-in threaten.
"The B'Breakerboys" uses a unique approach to storytelling. Genuine characters and brisk dialog add to an exciting plausible fanciful plot. This is a book which young teens will thoroughly enjoy. It will make an excellent addition to both middle-school and home libraries.
"The B'Breakerboys" is highly entertaining, informative, and worthwhile.
Received book free of charge
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