The Bomb That Followed Me Home

The Bomb That Followed Me Home is a very unusual story. This twisted little tale tells the story of a young boy who suddenly notices something is following him one day as he walks home from school. This wouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary, except for one fact: The thing that is following the boy happens to be a bomb with a long, unlit fuse. The boy takes the bomb home to meet his parents, notices the bomb is cute, wants to cuddle with it, etc. He treats the bomb as a pet, and his parents also treat the situation the same way. They don’t want the bomb in the house. They feel that their son will not be able to take care of it. They look for someone to adopt the bomb, but to no avail. The bomb, Rusty is then “given” to the boys cantakerous neighbors.

At first glance, you may think this book is for children, but that is not the case. The audience this book focuses on are older, high school aged students. The Bomb That Followed Me Home is part of a series of books known as the Rumpleville Chronicles- a collection of books known for its social commentary combined with the story line of a fairy tale.

When I first looked at the cover of this book, I was drawn in by its unique title. But rest assured, the uniqueness of this book does not end at the title, but runs throughout the course of the storyline as well as the illustrations. Rather than your typical brightly colored and cheery illustrations, you are faced with darker colors, which represent a darker mood. And while these pictures may not pull you in at a first glance, you can some humor in what is going on in these illustrations by looking at each page closely.

The Bomb That Followed Me Home is an interesting book to say the least and very educational. Teachers should pass these books around to their students when explaining to them the concepts of satire, analogy and more.