Burn (review)

Five-foot-three-inch-tall William Tucker is stuck with the hideous nickname “Wee Wee,” but he knows that there is more to him than meets the eye. As a volunteer fireman in his small Alabama town, he does his best to live up to the scriptures about helping others that his preacher father has drilled into him since birth, but he soon decides that opportunities to help people can’t be left to chance. When he gets a taste of the hero’s life after saving a kid who sets himself on fire during a physics experiment gone awry, Wee Wee observes that tragedy resets people’s priorities, and he takes it upon himself to arrange a few resets for people by setting things on fire, rushing in to save the day, and then letting small-town generosity take care of the aftermath. Wee Wee’s not the only one set on changing the world; his gay brother and a newly arrived mixed-race classmate are also frustrated by the status quo and take steps to try to force people into honest self-reflection. Gibson’s straightforward, dialogue-heavy style makes for a relatively easy read that raises challenging moral questions, making this a good choice for discussion groups. Indeed, such discussion will be important, as Wee Wee’s dangerous and criminal behavior does in fact achieve good ends, at least until the rather shocking conclusion. Wee Wee’s thoughtful narration, rendered in a laid-back southern style, calls to mind that of Hinton’s Ponyboy; this would make a good curricular follow-up to The Outsiders as it shares and updates many of its themes.