Breakfast Served Anytime by Sarah Combs (review)

Seventeen-year-old Gloria is off to a gifted and talented summer program, aka “Geek Camp,” that draws not only people from Louisville, like Gloria, but also those like her roommate—mining country natives and proud members of the Coal Coalition who nuance Gloria’s understanding of Kentucky and the larger world. There’s also Mason, who gets under her skin the moment she spies him and his ostentatious hat from her dorm room window; that annoyance turns to something else as the two find themselves in the same class, with only two other students to deflect the tension between them. The author clearly recalls her own adolescence, her memories translating into generosity with her characters—and her readers—as they stand at the edge of independence. Her sympathy emerges despite the unevenness of the prose; the book’s observations remain kid-meaningful even when Gloria’s voice has more of the retrospective wisdom of adulthood than that of a teenager struggling to understand her emerging self. Indeed, facets of Gloria’s personality emerge awkwardly, with the narrative telling rather than showing (an epilogue tied into the book’s final scene is particularly contrived). Yet Combs’ language has moments of poignancy, illustrating a sensitive understanding of the inner and outer worlds of gifted adolescents and ultimately providing more patient readers with a heartening message about leaving a home one loves and moving into the larger world of adulthood.