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Reviewed by Alice DiNizo for Readers' Favorite
Dave, the narrator of "Cornjerkers", and his high school friends are entering their senior year at Hoopeston High School in the small town of Hoopeston, Illinois. It's 1967 and the war in Viet Nam is now full-blown. Protests against the war are increasing across the United States, and the Presidential race of 1968 is heating up as candidates such as Eugene McCarthy and Hubert Humphrey announce that they are running for the post of President. Martin Luther King and then Bobby Kennedy are assassinated and the horror of both affects everyone in the story. Amidst all this, author David Theobald catches the feeling of teenagers attempting to live their lives out "teenage style" in those chaotic times. The Hoopeston High School athletes are called the Cornjerkers after a local tradition of gathering in corn crops. Dave, Potts, and the other senior boys compete in football, wrestling, and track under the eye of their coach, Robb. They muddle through the often boring classes of high school teacher Bones, eat enormous amounts of food at home and at local diners, and watch to see at what colleges they will be accepted. Dave has a teenage romance with pretty Tamy, listens to music by the Turtles and the Beatles, and worries about his older brother Dan who is serving as a marine in Viet Nam.
"Cornjerkers" is a perfect picture of small town America in those long ago but tumultuous times of the 1960's. Despite long descriptive paragraphs of high school sports competitions, author David Theobald has captured and written very well of teenagers living back in those times. Main character Dave and his teenage love, Tamy, kiss, hug and snuggle but do not engage in sex for that was not acceptable behavior for the average teenager back then. All characters, major and minor, suit this story and the period is portrayed very well. The plot flows to the story's end with minor twists and turns that make the story line more interesting. "Cornjerkers" is a nice trip for the reader back into simpler times of not so very long ago.
