Equality, anyone will know, is a big thing right now. It's everywhere. It's not just for people from different countries or of a different race, but with people who have a disability. When I first heard about Dead Ends by Erin Lange, it was on a young adult fiction site. The author had been compared to R.J Palacio and John Green, so, like most of the other books I review for the site, it was time to march on downto a bookshop and buy this book.
Dane Washington is in high school and isn't exactly Mr. Perfect with behaviour. On his street is a boy younger than him, named Billy Drum. But you can call him Billy D. The main thing you notice about Billy is that he has Down's syndrome, and when Dane gets in trouble again at school, he's offered a chance to serve his punishment as becoming a monitor for Billy on his walks to and from school. At first, Dane hates it. But when Billy wants to hunt for his long lost Dad using riddles used before he left, along with the girl Seely across the street, he's sucked into something he wasn't expecting. Oh, did I mention? Dane has no Dad, Billy has no Dad and Seely has two.
This book was fantastic, in one word. I do, unfortunately, have a small thing to point in this review. First off, when Lange was quoted as being like John Green, I didn't expect it to be so literal! Seriously. The interstate manhunt and the clues leading to them, it was like Paper Towns with 100% less Margo. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it made it hard to read this book without thinking 'Margo did that...'
However, fangirls of the Erin Lange proportion, John Green is not a terrible author, in fact he's brilliant. So when I said that it was so literal, I also meant this book was fantastic in every sense of the word. I was so blown away with how Billy D. was portrayed, especially in his situation as having Down's syndrome, that I have nominated it for the equality celebrations on Guardian Children's Books.
But that's far from all. The mirror between Dane and Billy, I usually think, is one of the hardest things to work with, but Erin has done it perfectly, flawlessly even. As well as that, Seely has two gay men has her partners, and that's portrayed perfectly as well.
I adore books that are borderline with issues and tackle them using the incredible power of fiction, and Erin Lange will be an author to watch for me. Time to go get Butter, her other title.
• Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop.
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