Bubble/The Bubble Boy
Author: Stewart Foster
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: May 2017
Orphaned 11-year old Joe has never known a life outside his hospital room. Joe is reconciled to staying inside, where his unusually weak immune system can’t be attacked. His sole companions are his older sister, Beth, doctors and nurses, and his distant friend Henry who shares his condition. Then one day, a new person enters Joe’s world. Amir is Joe’s new nurse. He talks fast, believes in aliens, and sometimes prefers staring out the window to social interaction. Amir enlarges Joe’s world and becomes his closest friend.
Joe clearly has an unusual life, but what makes his story special is the ordinary - his interactions with the people who come in and out of his room, his love of Spider-Man, and pleasures as simple as seeing the face of a friend. For a kid who thrives on superhero movies and limited social interaction, Joe is surprisingly thoughtful. While his disease is physically confining, he still has mental freedom. His conversations with nurses, his sister, and Henry show Joe’s curiosity about the world and the people in it and his eagerness to interact with both as much as possible. He has learned to observe, understand, and interpret his small world, and to dream beyond it, to let the imaginative space in his head be an escape.
Bubble is a chronicle of Joe’s life - the surprises, sorrows, and dreams that can be born and borne in one small room and one young mind. I recommend Bubble to middle grade readers who enjoy realistic fiction that relies on the small intimacies of characters rather than grand adventures to tell a story.
D. K. Nuray, age 14
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