Who’s Johnny?

The Mysterious Disappearance of Colby Blue by Eric Vasallo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“The Mysterious Disappearance of Colby Blue,” by Eric Vasallo follows a sweet, geeky middle school student who always felt like an other and different, someone who didn’t belong among his classmates and playing sports. (It didn’t help that his father named him after a type of cheese, a constant source of ribbing from fellow students.)
A lover of books about space, explorations and pioneers, Colby enjoys gazing at the night sky studded with stars and other galaxies. Mature for his age, he feels that there is more out there and that he is meant for bigger things, whatever that is, on or off Earth.
After tragedy strikes and leaves him an orphan, Colby finds a new home on the sweeping Rose Lawn farm estate with the Bookmans, an overbearing couple who love all things books. As Colby adapts to his new life with them, he hatches a plan to create a tower of books to reach the stratosphere. With help from a friendly owl and blue jay, Colby’s dream comes true. The tower and Colby’s intentions catch the attention of wise, benevolent beings, space and dimensional voyagers who help him tap into his infinite potential. They teach him how we are all connected in the universe and the importance of finding your inner strength and value.
The author’s passion for books shines brightly throughout the novel, a love letter to the literary word. Colby’s adoptive parents, appropriately-titled the Bookmans, regularly rescue abandoned books and collect them in their home for preservation. For the couple, “nothing in life was satisfying as the feel of a crisp, dry book page and its warm fabric binding” and “the sensation comforted them like a favorite teddy bear,” as the author writes. And then there’s Colby’s daily routine to “read an adventure for dinner to have something delightful to dream about.” Books are literally supporting characters in this novel and how they shape and enliven us.
“The Mysterious Disappearance of Colby Blue” is a lovely, charming, sweet story about a young man discovering himself as he seeks answers to life’s big questions by simply looking up and wondering at the universe we live in. He reminds readers of that time in your life when you were innocent, imaginative and anything was within reach if you willed it.
Although the book is intended for the middle-school set and young adults, I think it would be an enjoyable and relatable read to people of all ages. There’s a little Colby in all of us.



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