"Bull Rider" by Suzanne Morgan Williams

241 pages

Fourteen-year-old Cam O'Mara loves his family, but he doesn't feel like he fits in with them. His grandfather and older brother revered bull-riding champions in their small ranching town in Nevada, but Cam is not interested in partaking in the family sport; he prefers skateboarding. Everything changes, however, when Cam's brother, Ben, comes home from Iraq with a paralyzing brain injury. It appears that there might be a way for Cam to help Ben, but it involves getting on a bull. Cam has never wanted to be a rider, but he'll do anything to help Ben. And there was no way he could have predicted what happens when he finally gives bull riding a try.

I loved this book! Cam is a charming narrator who I liked right away. The secondary characters, especially Grandpa Roy and Grandma Jean, are fabulous as well. I like that the story brings up the idea of the morality of war in a way that young readers can understand, and it presents it as a complicated issue without one clear-cut right or wrong answer. The end comes with a nice twist that I enjoyed. This is definitely one of my favorite children's books of this year.