Hokey Pokey by Jerry Spinelli (review)

Hokey Pokey is a kid's dream, a land with a giant playground, steed-like bicycles that can be roped to ride down one of Pokey's many huge hills, a twenty-foot screen continuously playing cartoons, and not a grownup in sight. Jack, a Big Kid and longtime resident of Hokey Pokey, wakes up with the words "it's time" ringing in his ears and discovers that his bike is missing and the tattoo that marks him as kid is disappearing; he suddenly knows this will be his last day in Hokey Pokey. Spinelli's Hokey Pokey is a modernized Neverland, a whimsical version of childhood that doesn't gloss over the shadier sides of being a kid (like bullying, tantrums, and bedtime monsters) but instead presents them, with no moral judgment attached, as part of an ongoing developmental process. Jack is a likable guy, but he can also be selfish, stubborn, and downright mean; young readers will appreciate his complex character, particularly as they recognize some of their own faults in him. His reminiscing about what he will miss in Hokey Pokey and his bubbly anticipation about what is to come will ring true for many youngsters on the brink of adolescence. Spinelli's clever wordplay ("unfunk," "chuckleducking," "dropflopping") manages to be both childish and intriguingly exotic, and the vivid, sensory-based descriptions of Hokey Pokey's wonders will entice even the most discipline-minded grownup. Although a clichéd final chapter (it turns out Hokey Pokey is literally a kid's dream, Jack's dream in particular) undermines the book's resolution, this will still be a hit among readers who have recently found themselves in that murky place between childhood and adulthood.