If you are going to read one book this year about teens
worshipping a water tower, then I suggest you read Pete Hautman’s novel Godless. This unique book follows Jason
Bock. He is not particularly happy about having to attend a church group called
Teen Power Outreach. At one meeting he
announces that he’s a member of the Church of the Ten-Legged One, mostly to
mess with Just Al, the group’s leader. What starts off as a joke about
worshipping the local water tower soon gains a following, including Jason’s
obsessive friend Shin, a girl named Magda who Jason has a crush on, and Henry
Stagg, the town’s leading juvenile delinquent.
Keeping the events contained within the characters’ town
rather than having them explode into a nationwide sensation helps the book’s
believability. In addition, Godless is
the rare book that explores heavy subject matter without ever feeling heavy. In
an entertaining and often humorous way, Hautman explores how people come to
have or not have faith and how one’s faith can change over time. Highly
recommended.
John
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