Title: The Age of Amy: The Thumper Amendment
Author: Bruce Edwards
Genre: YA Contemporary, Magical Realism
Age Group: Young Adult
Rating: 4 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for an honest review.
Congress has lowered the voting age to 14! Not one to refuse political involvement, 16-year-old Amy patriotically joins a campaign to elect the next President of the United States. Her real reason for participating, however, is much more personal: the opposing candidate’s son bullied her when she was a 3rd grader. Thwarting his father’s bid for the presidency would be the perfect way to get even with him!Campaign reform laws now require presidential contenders to face off on a TV reality show. The “race” for the White House has become just that! Absurd challenges await the candidates as they speed cross-country toward Washington. But the campaign trail turns bumpy, when their buses take an unexpected detour into fantasy world! There they are confronted by half-human creatures, haunted by dead presidents, and rocketed into an economic dystopia of the future—all while being viewed by a worldwide television audience.
Amy is on board for the journey, as her grade school nemesis rides on the competition’s campaign bus. But along the way she develops second thoughts about avenging the boy. Her brutal offender has changed in the last seven years, becoming thoughtful and compassionate. (And cute!) Amy’s contempt for him surprisingly turns to affection. Is she falling in love?
In The Age of Amy: The Thumper Amendment, author Bruce Edwards gives his audience a spirited, fun heroine with a rebellious strike, a fascinating love interest who knows how to be romantic, even if he’s just a teen, and a crazy, insane campaign to elect the next president of the United States.
While it’s all great fun, and Amy, her love interest Peter, and the candidates for presidency, go on a rollercoaster ride of adventure during the campaign (seriously, they even end up in a fantasy land, talk to dead presidents,… the crazier, the better), there’s an intense political undercurrent, and it’s obvious some parts of the book entice the reader to think critically about the political games, and how they’re played, and what the consequences are for everyone.
I never knew what to expect, and that, alongside with Amy’s bubbly, energetic, bright personality, is what I liked most about this book. An absolute thrill, and recommended to older middle graders, and young adults (and everyone who enjoys those genres).
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