Waiting For Bojangles

Waiting For Bojangles was written by Oliver Bourdeaut in French and translated into English. I was attracted to the artwork on the cover. The story is told by a young schoolboy. He talks about his parents and the family pet, an African crane named Mademoiselle Superfluous.  The boy gets into trouble at school because his parents keep him home so frequently. Eventually he drops out of school. His mother is eccentric and his father is too. They don't open their mail but let it pile up in a corner of the house. His parent's favorite things to do is dance to Nina Simone's recording of the song Mr. Bojangles. They also like to travel to their other house in Spain. After a tax assessor comes to visit, the boy's mother's mental health begins to deteriorate quickly. The boy and his father try to protect her from the world and the world from her. The novel beautifully tells of the great lengths people will go to protect the ones they love.