Reviewed by Dan

TITLE:    Stories of the Boy with the Yellow Socks

AUTHOR:     J. Carter Swift

PUBLISHER:  SDJ Publishing

LENGTH:     229 Pages

BLURB:

A timely and original achievement, this collection of stories tells of Jan Blixen’s early life, a boy growing up gay in Iowa. Alive with characters that leap from the pages to introduce themselves, each of these stories is a small masterpiece that pulls the reader ever deeper into the life of a boy who refuses to allow abuse and bullying to defeat him. Jan Blixen rises, and as he does the reader will find themselves cheering him on, standing with him against all odds as he uses his greatest gift to survive…his gift of gentleness.

Read the sample stories amazon.com so generously provides and know the stories get richer and more involved with each page turned. You won’t want this book to end!

SPECIAL OFFER BY THE AUTHOR: If you’re unable to afford this book, send a request to stan.1950@hotmail.com for a free copy delivered to you through amazon. In return, the author only asks that you share the book with a friend.

REVIEW:

How often do you see an author put an offer in their blurb like the one above? I’ll be honest, I’ve never seen it. I think it speaks volumes about who the man writing as J. Carter Swift must be.

I have to start by saying I loved the book “Stories of the Boy with the Yellow Socks” for many reasons. First and foremost would be the character of Jan Blixen. I instantly was hooked by Jan and his adventures as told through his “stories”, and I’m sure you will be as well.

We first meet Jan in 1964, when he is in the eighth grade in Iowa. Jan, is a thin, blond, blue eyed boy; is best described as “pretty”; isn’t that good at sports; and prefers flowers, reading and yellow socks. His father is less than amused. Jan takes after his mother in looks and frame. His dad on the other hand, is a huge muscled dark hairy bricklayer, with a drinking problem, and a very heavy hand.

I particularly liked how the book was told as a series of stories. I debated how to review the book and decided I’d give you a little snippet of each, because I loved them all.

The Baseball Glove – In this first story, we first meet Clayton Bings, “the goblin of a boy” bully who will haunt Jan throughout the first half of the book. Clayton is a year older than Jan and torments him about his yellow socks. In this chapter, Jan’s Dad decides it is time for him to live without his stupid doll that he has had his entire life. Jan comes home one day to find the doll gone, and new baseball mitt on his pillow. All works out well on Jan’s end though when a cute little red haired boy comes by with his own mitt. Score Jan 1, Dad 0.

Walter’s Gift – The boy with the yellow socks isn’t like other little boys. When he notices some chrysanthemums in front of a cardboard box, he has to investigate. When a homeless man named Walter jumps out of the box and asks what he is doing, he jumps, but doesn’t run away. He realizes the man has some “issues”, but stays to find out what they are. A wife dying of a brain tumor and the things that happened after are all confessed to young Jan. Walter then sends him home with a book, but it is only lent, not given away, and must be returned! When Jan goes back he finds Walter has been taken away by the men in the white coats. Jan finds a way to return the book, but credits Walter as the one who instilled his love of reading.

Glass of Chocolate Milk – In which Jan meets and befriends a college professor and helps him with his garden in return for access to the professor’s huge personal library of books. An unfortunate incident with a glass of chocolate milk, and Jan’s Dad’s misunderstanding of what is going on, eventually ruins the professor’s life in the town and he forced to move away. We find out more details of this “being run out of town” in a later story.

The Bullies Bing – Turns out that Clayton Bings’ Dad is a goblin as well. When they meet Jan and his Dad in a grocery store, things go badly. But not for Jan and his Dad. Jan hopes that this will finally make his Dad love him, but no.

Bean Soup – By far the saddest part of the book. In this story, Jan meets the boy of his dreams, his friend Jacob’s older brother Dylan. I’m not going to do any more spoilers on this one. Sad.

Barney Blacker – Barney Blacker is a detective with the local police department and has his suspicions about the heavy hand of Mr. Blixen for some time, but hasn’t done anything about it at the request of both Jan and his Mom. One day while Jan and his Mom are at the bank trying to keep their car from being repossessed, Barney comes in and starts talking to Jan. Behind him a masked man comes in and robs the bank! When Barney chases him out the door, shots are fired, Barney is severely wounded, and the robber is killed. We discover we know the robber from previous stories. When Barney retreats into his own world of self-pity, Jan is there to pull him out. There is a lot of drama in this one, including Jan’s Dad saving Barney and Jan from some bad guys, but then saying it would be better if he hadn’t.   I could feel the pain of his father’s denial.

Heroes and Villains – The longest story in the book is Heroes and Villains, in which Jan is sent off to spend the summer with his Aunt Ellie working at a horse track outside Chicago. It turns out Aunt Ellie is a well know player in the horse racing world and trains some of the fastest horses in the world. It won’t be a summer of pampering. When Jan arrives he is told he will stay in the tack room of the barn for the entire summer. And even worse, she called him “Cricket” because he is so jumpy, and everyone else in the barn hears it and instantly adopts the nickname. I really liked this chapter. We have a mystery, a murder, and a damn fine horse named Cruiser. I grew up wanting to be Alec Ramsay in the Black Stallion, so no surprise this one did it for me!

All But One – In this chapter we finally learn who caused Professor Tot, in “Glass of Chocolate Milk”, to be run out of town. When the pastor of their church accosts Jan and accuses him of being a homosexual and tells him that Dylan is burning in Hell for his sins, you know this is going to be a good one. We have some amazing responses from the church members considering what year it was taking place.

The Boy with the Yellow Socks – In the final chapter of this book we again have some drama, but more involving Jan’s parents. When his father discovers his mother was having an affair while he was in jail for 30 days, all hell breaks loose. Even worse, Jan felt betrayed by his mother, and his clues gave away the truth to his Dad. Things do work out though, and Jan finally graduates from high school. I loved the last paragraph of the book. What is it? You’ll see when you finish the book!

I very highly recommend this book for both adults and for young adults. It is a coming of age story, set in a much simpler time. Even though Jan, it appears, would be about ten years older than me, many of the events and storylines in this book could also have taken place for me as well. Only thing is….I wouldn’t have been brave enough to wear yellow socks!

Get this book today. It is great!

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