Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet by Joanne Proulx

Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet was written by Joanne Proulx and published by Penguin Canada. I found it a thoroughly enjoyable read - Proulx pulls off the adolescent boy's voice SO well. When I first read this book, I recognized it as one that would be potentially relevant and therapeutic for many of the young men I worked with back when I was working in children's mental health, in treatment centres and group homes.

Which got me to thinking about how very seldom we - yes, me included, unfortunately - child and youth workers even thought about encouraging the kids in our care to read. It is easy to say that most of the messed up kids we worked with don't read. And it is true that many of them have learning disabilities or other issues that interfere with their enjoyment of reading. But does that mean that we should not provide them with opportunities? Encouragement?

Child and youth workers spend a lot of time providing therapeutic recreation programming. You know... you take the kids to the gym, or to a theme park, or whatever. But how often is reading incorporated into those therapeutic recreation programs? Hardly ever - and that hasn't changed since I left the field; I've checked. Sad. And dumb too. When we discharge the kids, it's not like we can provide them with a gym and people to organize their activities. Reading is a far more portable therapeutic recreation activity.

And there you have my dissertation in a nutshell - I enter my doctorate in Canadian Studies this fall and this is my thesis topic - all because of Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet.

Anthem is about a young man named Luke Hunter, who lives in a small town called Slokum, and who has the unfortunate ability to predict, and feel, the deaths of other people. That would be disturbing enough - but the first time it happens is when he is hanging out with his group of misfits.

"Stan" he says, kind of loud so of course he had to look up. "Tomorrow morning. Eight thirty-seven. The red van with the out of state plates? You go head to head. You lose. You die."

He thinks, of course, that he is bullshitting - but sure enough, it happens - exactly the way he predicted it. And his buddies tell the press, and before you know it, Luke is the talk of the town - and not in a good way.

Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet is clearly one of my all time favourite novels.