Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Language:  One common swear word and some uses of the name of deity.  Name calling like jerkface, buttwipe, Neanderthal, freakazoid etc.

Violence:  Bullying by the popular kids. A knockout punch to the nose by a football player.  The entire football team tackles Cap who is innocently dressed in the opposing teams uniform.

Sexual Content: Naomi kisses Cap in front of a group of students and lets him know it is to be continued.  Cap is attracted to Sophie.  When he looks at her he feels funny.

Adult Themes:  Cap is arrested for being an under-aged driver after taking his grandma to the hospital.  Cap is arrested again for driving a school bus to the hospital after the driver passes out.  Sophie’s parents are divorced.  Her dad frequently makes promises he doesn’t keep.  Some anti-government opinions from Cap’s hippy grandmother.

Synopsis

Capricorn Anderson has been raised by his hippie grandmother Rain on a farm commune his whole life.  He knows nothing of modern technology, and has had little or no social interaction with the outside world.  That all changes when his grandmother is seriously injured and has to stay in the hospital.  Cap, as he is called, is forced to move in with a guidance counselor and her moody daughter.  He is enrolled in the local middle school where school politics rule and weirdness is shunned.  Zach, a fellow student, has climbed the popularity ladder and sees Cap as an opportunity to become the next legend of Claverage Middle School.   As the school’s tradition goes, the oddest nerdiest student is elected eighth grade president and always wins.  Zach nominates Cap for the job and sees to it that he wins.  Innocently, Cap becomes the butt of all of his pranks and jokes but not for long.  Cap’s unique non-violent and non-competetive upbringing helps him through it all.  Students begin to admire his weirdness when they see that it is genuine kindness with a hippie flare.  Capricorn Anderson wins over the student body and helps Rain to see a way to balance the past with the future.

This was a great story of accepting and understanding others  before we judge them.  It reminded me of the book Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli.  Each chapter in the book was from a different character’s point of view.  This gave a different insight to the situation at hand which was interesting.

©2009 The Literate Mother