Jedi Summer with the Magnetic Kid, by John Boden

It's 1983 in a small town, located in Pennsylvania. Johnny and his little brother, Roscoe, are enjoying their summer, and can't wait to see Return of the Jedi when it comes to their neck of the woods. In the mean time though, they find themselves creating things to do, and figuring out where to go within the town. Johnny definitely has an older brother mentality when it comes to Roscoe, and it shows through the narrative going back to their youth. Within the town though, there are secrets, strange things that happen, those who die don't really go away, both human and animal. Two boys finding their way through life, growing up together, and finding things out the hard way. Oh, and don't forget about Jedi.


John Boden takes us on a magical and nostalgic journey back to the summer of 1983 in his novella, Jedi Summer with the Magnetic Kid. The writing is quick, to the point, and comes at you full force. The occurrences for the boys really enthralled me, and brought me into the story with them, into their lives, into their sometimes troubled times dealing with all that they encountered. I think my own criticism would be that I'd love to have seen this brought up to novel length. John has a storytelling talent, much like Robert McCammon has in Boy's Life, to which I could easily see him writing out a novel length piece, and devouring it in only a few sittings. Overall I'm going to give this one an A-, and encourage you to take the plunge, and see why everyone is talking about this fine novella.

Review by Kyle Lybeck