Eoin Colfer’s “The Legend of Spud McMurphy”

Author: Eoin Colfer

This story begins with a large, busy family, they have five boys under 10, and how could they not be busy? The boys (and their large crowd of friends who visit) have become a bit too much for Mom. So she ships the older two brothers off to the public library for a few hours each week. The Librarian, however, has a reputation of being overly strict. In fact, it is commonly believed by the children that she keeps a potato gun underneath her desk that she uses to lob potatoes at children who don’t follow the rules (hence the name, “Spud McMurphy”).
The main characters, Will and Marty, have very different personalities. Marty chooses to be a rule breaker, pushing the boundaries on the very first day. The boys test the boundaries again and again and find that every time they cross the lines set in place by Mrs. McMurphy they are held to them. Eventually they learn to be content in the Children’s section (whose lines are drawn by a carpet). However, when they have finally read every single book (twice!) in the Children’s Section, Will is blackmailed when Marty says he will tell him the location of his action figure (whom Will declares to be his best friend) if Will will sneak into the grown-up section of the library to get new books to read.
The new books keep the boys busy for quite some time. Then they get caught by the librarian and the (surprise!) ending is that if Will is willing to break the rules to get additional literature then he should be rewarded with a grown-up library card.

Conclusion:
The Legend of Spud McMurphy is an easy book to read that has Nickelodeon-style cartoons and a storyline that most boys can identify with. The fact that they boys end up loving the library and books is a moral that most parents can identify with. It’s the “getting there” that may cause some parents to pause.
Despite the happy ending that both boys discovered that books were terrific friends, they were not acting “good” in most of this book. The fact that the hero made friends with his nemesis (the librarian) could direct some children in the right direction of choosing to discover new horizons in the library does by no mean excuse the way they got there; sneakiness, lying and a “do-whatever-it-takes-to-get-my-way” mindset. There is also one use of, "for the love of God."
This book could generate a great conversation with your child about the “Golden Rule” and how that applies even to people who have treated us badly in the past. Somehow I think the author believes in the secular mindset, “It doesn’t matter how you get there as long as you end up in the right place.” However, this conflicts with God’s advice in Luke 6:45, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” Overall, a book that had a great moral but came up with a immoral way to get there.

Buy this book (used) at Amazon.com for .01¢.