Johanna Kelly's Book Review

The Sledding Hill

Chris Crutcher

**** stars
Eddie’s father dies in a work accident. Not long after, his best friend Billy, dies in a freak accident. The two people who really understood Eddie are gone, or are they? Eddie and Billy still hang out on the sledding hill. Billy is with him through his first year of high school and his problems with Reverend Tarter, who wants a book that is special to Eddie to be banned from the school library.

This book will remind you of Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones, without the murder. The narrator, Billy, is dead, and is watching his friend from what we assume to be Heaven. This book seems to be aimed to a middle school audience. There are no curse words. There is no sex, drugs, violence, etc. There is a lot of talk about religion; the antagonist is a religious fanatic, however he becomes a sympathetic character. The main issue in the book is censorship, a book assigned in Eddie’s class becomes his friend, and this book is taken away. Overall, a fast, heartwarming read.