Butt Sandwich & Tree

The urgent need to right a profound injustice fuels the tension in this whodunit from King (the Wizenard series), which follows two tightly bonded co-narrating brothers in the Toronto suburbs. Eleven-year-old Green Bennett calls himself “Butt Sandwich” as a play on Asperger’s syndrome, with which he’s been diagnosed. Heading into middle school, he takes comfort in his routines and his beloved mayonnaise and cheese sandwiches (“the peak of food”). But when his 13-year-old brother Cedar, known as Tree, pushes Green to join him on the school’s basketball team, the tryout results in disaster. And after the widowed basketball coach’s wedding ring goes missing the same day, Green is blamed for the theft, until the brothers—inspired by the Hardy Boys and Veronica Mars—resolve to uncover the culprit and clear Green’s name. While the greater school community harasses and ostracizes Green, he receives love and strong support from new friends as well as Cedar, and the story maintains an enjoyably cozy vibe as wrongs are righted and Green gains a greater understanding of his autistic identity. The Bennett siblings cue as white; an author’s note discusses the family-oriented seeds of King’s novel and contextualizes Green’s diagnosis. Ages 8–12. Agent: Brianne Johnson, Writers House. (Aug.)