Chris Carlton Brown
I’m going to start a new little series here on me blog: the Book Byte, where I briefly showcase writers or books I really like. I’ll cover my favorite mainstream ones, but especially ones published by personal author friends, because I believe we writer types should help each other out! So, in the words of Strong Bad: “Let’s take a look. A book-look.”
Chris Carlton Brown is a dear friend of my family. “Hoppergrass” is his debut book, and I was lucky enough to read it earlier this year.
FIRST LINE: “It’s always a clean, white car—this time a Ford.”
It’s a story about a teen juvie and his stint in a Southern all-boys correctional school.
Brown has experience teaching in inner-city schools, so he knows the challenges of teenagers pitting themselves against a hard world.
“Hoppergrass” really captures the hopelessness of being a teenager, especially ones people dismiss as criminals, at a place where most of the adults are little better than criminals themselves. Is it possible to find hope and redemption at such a dead-end place?
It’s an inspiring story of how friendship can grow in the most stifling of circumstances.
If you want more opinions on “Hoppergrass,” you can visit its page on Amazon. Need a little more info? Read the sample chapter at Brown’s website.