Thirteen year old Jason Taylor recounts one year of his life in the tiny English town of Black Swan Green, where the town joke is there are no black swans. Jason's life is a misery. He has a stutter that speech therapy doesn't seem to be helping. He is bullied by a number of his classmates for his stutter and not being one of the tough, cool kids. He doesn't get along with his older sister who is heading off to university and his parents serious issues of their own. Girls don't seem to like him. Things just aren't going his way. It is 1982 and England is in the midst of the Falklands War and the Thatcher recession. Jason copes with things by writing poetry and giving nicknames to the parts of his personality that deal with the difficult parts of his life. Gradually things start to change for Jason and all the kids in his grade at school. For some, it is for the better; for others, it is much worse. Is the shift just because Jason has matured in that year or something more? This book is sad, funny, intriguing, shocking, unpredictable, and full of music from the period. It's very well written and worth reading.
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