Now Is Not the Time to Panic - Kevin Wilson

I like to read top book lists when I'm looking for books for myself or for Cover to Cocktails. And that is how I came upon this month's book. But I had it on my list to read and had not considered it for Cover to Cocktails until after I finished the book. Lucky for me, it was available at Jen's library!

I think I was drawn to the book mostly by the title because it's a good mantra. Don't panic!

This book takes place over the summer in a small town, Coalfield, Tennessee. Frankie Budge is sixteen and doesn't have many friends. She has triplet older brothers who are, to put it bluntly, wild. On a very hot day in early summer she is sitting at the pool watching as the lifeguards prepare for the watermelon contest. They throw a greased watermelon into the pool and whoever is able to grab it gets to keep it. Sounds very small town and reminds me of some of the ridiculous things we did in our hometown. At the pool, Frankie meets Zeke, a new kid in town and they form a friendship.

Zeke moved to Coalfield with his mother after his father cheated. His mother barely speaks or comes out of her room and his grandmother isn't much better with a teenage boy. Soon Zeke is spending everyday at Frankie's house. They really want to do something special this summer and come up with the idea of doing art. Frankie wants to write and Zeke wants to draw. Eventually they get inspiration to create a poster. Frankie comes up with the slogan, The Edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us. Zeke draws the picture around the words. Frankie's older brothers stole a photocopier last year and with a bit of tinkering, Zeke gets it working again. They make hundreds of copies of their poster and start putting it up all over town.

People don't seem to notice at first, but then a couple of teenagers hoping to escape punishment for breaking curfew create a story about a van with a couple fugitives trying to kidnap them. Then the whole town starts to go crazy. Instead of investigating, people jump to wild conclusions and begin to panic. Things quickly spiral out of control and a couple people end up dead.

Throughout all of this, Frankie becomes obsessed with the poster and putting up more. Zeke starts to pull away and becomes more afraid of the potential consequences. Eventually Zeke's mother takes him back to the city, hoping to keep him away from the danger.

In the future, Frankie has to decide if she will tell her story and how it could impact those she loves.

Both Jen and I enjoyed this book, but we both agreed that it was quite slow to start. The first half of the book is mostly Frankie and Zeke creating the poster and hanging it up around town. Things really start moving in the book when people start panicking.

Neither Jen nor I have ever had an obsession like Frankie. She was obsessed with printing more posters and hanging them up around town, and even out of town, so much so that even as an adult she still hangs them up. She also repeats the slogan so often and sometimes without noticing that her young daughter knows it.

I think we also enjoyed the book because we could relate to the boredom of summer in a small town. While there was never a watermelon contest in our local pool, there were plenty of questionable activities while we were growing up.

I thought the book was an interesting commentary on how quickly people jump to conclusions and are willing to believe almost anything, even if it isn't logical. I think we saw some of this thinking in the last few years, so maybe I jumped to conclusions here as well!

There were a number of great characters in the book. We both thought Frankie's mom was an interesting parent. She had tried so hard to control her kids and her life and when it all fell apart she ended up embracing the chaos. My concern with her was that she never spoke to Frankie about the poster, even when the panic started, she didn't reassure her.

Frankie's neighbour was also a favourite. He had been an artist earlier in his life and had moved to Coalfield when he got sick. Frankie assumed he had cancer. Towards the end of the book he became an important character when he helped Frankie keep her secret.

Overall this was a good book. It was different and took some time for both of us to get into it, but once we finished it, we both realized that it was a good story. I hope you'll give this one a try!

Until next time, have a drink, read a book, and be happy!