The Boys Who Woke Up Early

The Boys Who Woke Up Early by A.D. Hopkins is a coming of age tale set in Early, Virginia in the mid-1950's. Stony Shelor is a teenager who has lived in Early all his life, but things start to get interesting for him when a cool character by the name of Jack Newcomb moves into town. With his slick clothing and jaunty beret on his head, Jack immediately gets everyone's attention, but sure enough, he and Stony become fast friends. Jack fancies himself a jazz musician and a detective of sorts, and before long, he and Stony are spending their afternoons and summers at the local Sheriff's office, where Deputy Ben Agee is severely short-handed. While at first, he turns away the boys' desire to help, before long they are running errands, taking phone calls, and handling reports. On the side, they take a case when the wealthy local D.A., Rich Conway, gets robbed and he hires the boys to catch the thief. Well, the boys catch the thief, but it's not who they or Conway expected. Along the way, they learn a little bit about racism and making assumptions.

Along the way to adulthood, Stony falls for an opinionated and progressive girl named Mary Lou, but it seems she only has eyes for Stony's friend and co-worker at Harlow's Garage, a young black man named Roosevelt Penn. Needless to say, in the mid-50's, Mary Lou's dating choices weren't popular with the locals and earned some attention from the local members of the Ku Klux Klan, who were already in an uproar about blacks being allowed to vote and school integration. To make matters worse, when Deputy Ben runs for Sheriff, D.A. Conway puts his weight behind one of his dangerous and racist cohorts, State Trooper T.J. Thompson, and the Klan spends its time trying to keep people afraid of voting. When everything finally comes to a head, it turns out that The Boys Who Woke Up Early has multiple clever meanings.

This is a different type of book than I typically read. It's more of a slice-of-life novel, but I really enjoyed it. Reading A.D. Hopkins' accounts of the time period are very interesting and they ring true, as they are inspired by his youth. If you are looking for something different and mellow, yet still timely, despite it taking place in the 50's, check out The Boys Who Woke Up Early.