Butt Sandwich & Tree

In Wesley King’s Butt Sandwich & Tree, there are three mysteries:
1. What happens when someone who was born with a condition that used to be called Asperger’s Syndrome is pushed to do something completely against his nature?

2. What happens when a valuable necklace is stolen and the person who refers to himself as Butt Sandwich because of the Asperger’s tag is in the house (so to speak)?

3. Who stole the necklace and why?

Eleven-year-old Green Bennett (aka Butt Sandwich) and his 13-year-old brother Cedar Bennet (aka Tree), are set on a path to find out the answers to all three. Sometimes painfully, sometimes heroically, sometimes simply thankfully.

Green, who has Asperger’s (now known as Autism Spectrum Disorder), loves his family and likes the life he’s carved out for himself, but he hates his name. Cedar loves his family, especially his little brother, and his own status as a star basketball player on the school team, but he thinks Green needs more in his life than he’s chosen to have and that basketball is the way for Green to gain what he lacks. To that end, Cedar convinces Green he should try out for the team, and Cedar also convinces the coach of the team to keep Green on board after the first-round cuts even though the coach and Green believe it’s a lost cause. It’s bound to blow up and does. What follows the blow-up isn’t something either brother expected. Basketball is a game. The consequences of being considered a low-down thief who would steal a ring that was a token of their love from a man who is grieving the loss of his wife isn’t. Now the brothers must join forces to solve the mystery of the stolen necklace and restore Green’s reputation and former life.

Except for the “Epilogue”, the story is told from two points of view: Green’s and Cedar’s. Green comes to life with the kind of authority and authenticity that comes from the author’s first-hand experience of living with someone with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and readers will cheer for this self-aware, feisty, loving boy from the beginning of the book to the end. Cedar is also an authentic character. In his sometimes misguided way, he struggles to find the independence teens seek and to grow into the extra height genetics have favored him with while he fiercely tries to protect his brother. Many young readers will solidly identify with him. Unfortunately (though it’s a good thing from a book reviewer’s vantage point), readers who have dealt with Autism Spectrum Disorders will also identify clearly with Coach’s and the brothers’ schoolmates’ beliefs and reactions when the theft is discovered.

In the beginning, readers get to know the brothers, their family, and, to a lesser degree, their teachers and classmates. The story is focused on developing readers’ understanding of the condition Green was born with, and Wesley uses a good deal of humour, as well as some gritty details and fast action, to keep readers engaged. I laughed out loud more than once. I also winced in places. When the investigation into the theft is launched, the pace speeds up and a new character comes on board—one I, as a grandparent myself, loved. I’m with Opa all the way. Who is Opa? Sorry older readers, you’ll have to steal (or maybe just borrow) your kid’s copy of the book and read it to find out.

Wesley King’s Butt Sandwich and Tree is a story that takes readers into the world of someone who lives with a genetic disorder and into the family, friend, school world of two brothers who are united from beginning to end, but who are forced to find new and creative ways to navigate through the minefield that can be life. It is told with compassion, humour, and a healthy dose of reality. Many readers will want to know what Green and Cedar (aka Butt Sandwich & Tree; aka the Evergreen brothers) will be up to next.