Book Review: Brown

 

Written by: Håkon Øvreås
Published by: Enchanted Lion Books, 2019
ISBN: 978-1592702121

Plot Summary

Brown tells the story of a young boy named Rusty whose grandfather dies at the beginning of the book, right after Rusty's family has moved to spend more time with him. Rusty takes cans of brown paint from his aunt's house with the intention of using them to paint the fort that he and his friend, Jack, have made. When he arrives at the fort, he sees 3 older boys destroying it. After an altercation, they chase him to his friend, Lou's house, and then damage his own home that evening.

That night, instead of sleeping, Rusty creates a superhero outfit and becomes his alter ego, Brown. He paints one of the bully's bikes brown. While he is out he comes across a vision of his grandfather and speaks with him. His father defends him when the bullies confront him the next day. Rusty and his friends, Jack and Lou, become the superheroes, Brown, Black, and Blue together and plan to take blue paint from his grandfather's garage to paint the church spire but discover there is only 1 can left. When they get to the church, the bullies are there painting it and the 3 superheroes paint their bikes blue.

Their own lesser indiscretion of painting the bikes is overshadowed by the bullies painting rude words on the church. Rusty has one last vision of his grandfather who lets him know that he will be going now since Rusty has made such good friends.

Critical Analysis

The overarching theme in Brown is Rusty's struggle to accept his grandfather's death as well as his place in his new town. When he speaks to Lou about his grandfather dying, he even says that he isn't sad about it. Lou speaks of her own mean granny and asks if Rusty's grandfather was mean as well. When he says that he wasn't, Lou expresses confusion at Rusty's lack of sadness over his death. It is clear that Rusty is still in the early stages of grief and has not yet accepted the permanence of his grandfather's death. This is a universal theme that readers will be able to identify with.

In addition, since Rusty's family has just moved to the area, there are other minor themes at play- making new friends, moving to a new place, and learning how to fit in and where you belong. Even if a child hasn't experienced the death of a loved one, they may be able to identify with the idea of unmet expectations- Rusty's family moved to spend more time with his grandfather, but he died soon after. There are many situations that do not end up going the way we expected them to and we must learn to adjust to reality and let go of those expectations at some point.

Rusty's parents give him his grandfather's pocket watch, which doesn't work. However, at night, when Rusty becomes Brown instead of Rusty, the hands on the watch start to work. This is also the time that Rusty sees visions of his grandfather and has conversations with him. This element of magical realism serves as a distinction between Rusty's two selves. When the hands of the watch are moving, it seems that almost anything is possible- Rusty is no longer just Rusty, he is the superhero Brown who is brave and daring. Grandpa is not really gone (or maybe he is, as his ghost identifies himself as "Brownpa" after Rusty says that he is Brown and Rusty is home in bed), but can be seen and heard. When the watch is still, Rusty is just Rusty, lonely, and the victim of bullies, and Grandpa is gone.

There are some minor cultural markers in the book, mainly in Auntie Ranveig's home, which smells of liverwurst. Overall, the book is a more general tale about loss and friendship and those universal themes overshadow the setting and culture. The location is never mentioned, other than to say that Rusty's family has recently moved from the city to the country. The only technology mentioned is the TV show that Rusty watches featuring the superhero, Ray-X, who is perhaps part of the inspiration for his alter ego, Brown. This means that the timing of the book could be a large range- from the 1950s to the present-day or even in the future. This will allow readers to make a connection to their own lives.

The illustrations in the book are simple line drawings mainly accented with colors of yellow, green, blue, and brown. The one exception is the use of a bright orange-red color on Lou's hair and one of the bully's shirts. The color is also used in the illustration of the bullies kicking down the fort- emphasizing the violence of the moment and the anger felt by Rusty. All of Rusty's interactions with Grandpa are in shades of Blue until the last one when Grandpa tells Rusty that he has to go, which is highlighted in bright yellow. This can symbolize the fact that Grandpa's spirit can move on to rest now that he knows that Rusty has close friends to keep him company.

Rusty's two friends are unique but display personality attributes that will be familiar to readers. Jack is a typical teller of tall tales. He has a tendency to one-up Rusty. When Rusty mentions that his grandpa has died, Jack says that his uncle died from falling into a glacier and freezing. However, despite this somewhat annoying habit, Jack proves himself to be a loyal friend. He helps Rusty to re-build their fort and joins in to seek vengeance on the bullies as his own superhero alter ego, Black. Lou seems to be the wise and stable influence in the friend group. When fleeing the bullies, Rusty finds safety at her house. She attempts to get him to face his true feelings about his grandfather's death and initially is shocked at the idea of the superheroes painting the bullies bikes, but ends up joining the "Guardians of the Fort" as the superhero Blue.

At the end of the book, all of the situations have resolved themselves. Although at times it seems like Rusty will be caught for his revenge on the bullies, they end up getting into serious trouble for stealing paint out of his grandpa's garage and using it to paint rude words on the church steeple (ironic, since one of them is the minister's son). Rusty's grandpa's spirit can be at rest since Rusty has adapted to his new home with the help of his friends and has come to accept the permanence of his death. The pocket watch will serve as a memento for Rusty to remember him with.

Awards Won

2020- Mildred L. Batchelder Award

Review Excerpt

From Kirkus Reviews, published May 1, 2019

"Small, fine-lined ink drawings with color highlights on nearly every page supply this tongue-in-cheek escapade with evocative vignettes depicting Rusty’s flights of fancy, quizzical-looking parents and other grown-ups, and masked prowlers in homemade outfits. The cast defaults to white." 

Connections

Students can think of their own Superhero and color name to go with Brown, Black, and Blue from the book. They can write a description of their hero and draw a self-portrait. 

Read The New Kid by Jerry Craft, another book about a boy learning to fit in.