Erin Jade Lange

“Wow, the names of all the towns that your dad is leading us to are hilarious! I can't wait to explore these places!” Billy’s dad begins to lead him to different funny-named towns and cities to find him.

This book tells the story of two boys who are both missing their fathers, trying to find their fathers. The conflict is, that they cannot locate their fathers, and the process is taking a long time. The only way to find their fathers is to look everywhere they know and find in Billy’s atlas, Billy’s atlas was given to him by his dad because he wanted billy to find him. Both of their fathers have been missing since they were born.

The characters are outgoing and show their emotions, for example, Dane punched a kid for drawing Billy D., just because he thought he was making fun of him. Seely had kissed Dane even though she said she didn’t like him, she had also told her fathers that Dane wasn't her boyfriend, and yes, she has two fathers. Billy D. had always stomped around but always had a blank face when mad at someone.

I believe this book's theme is an unlikely friendship, meaning they became friends without truly becoming friends, between two young boys, both social outcasts. This is the central theme because both Billy and Dane are treated as an outsider.

I recommend this book because it overall has a very dramatic story and keeps you wanting to read more. Although those dramatic parts have a huge buildup in between each action. This highlights the theme because, throughout the story, they are mainly trying to find Billy’s dad but a lot of other things happen to sidetrack the main story. They have to solve that problem before continuing to figure out more clues to find Billy’s dad. So, if you want to read a book all about being sidetracked from the main story and more action-packed than ever, this book I suggest you read.… (more)

If I rated Butter just for the quality of writing, it'd be a 3 star - because of mistakes like the too-sudden emotional shifts and the over-zealous descriptions of saxophone-playing (no one picked up this book to read saxophonist name drops). And yet I have so much respect for this really unique idea. I've never encountered a single overweight, diabetic protagonist before this, and that makes me seriously ponder what topics repel us most as a society. So, I give it 4 stars, mostly because of what it made me consider, not the actual narrative.… (more)