Copyright 2022 by David Benjamin. Published by Last Kid Books, Madison WI.
First, the usual disclaimer: David Benjamin is one of my best friends. But he is also a very talented author. I enjoy his books very much.
Benjamin’s work can’t be pigeon-holed. He can write romance, mystery and historical fiction. Choose Moose is a political novel. About a school board in Blackhawk WI. I can’t imagine a political novel smaller than that – a school board in a small town. But the unlikely protagonist is Henry Haddock, an 11-year-old sixth grader who becomes agitated when some popular teachers and programs – including art, Henry’s favorite class – are cut due to a budget crunch. He starts attending school board meetings and tries to ask some questions but is ignored by the school board’s chairman, the imperious “Scooter” McDuff. But Henry persists and learns about school committee procedures and meetings. He finds evidence that the school board has violated the state’s Open Meeting law, gets the local paper involved and general becomes a thorn in the side of McDuff.
He then starts to learn the importance of money in politics. In the case of Blackhawk, the town’s most prominent (i.e. richest) citizen, Paul Lamartine, is a staunch backer of both McDuff and the “Thundering Three Hundred,” Blackhawk’s famous marching band. Why was the band not cut along with the teachers? Because Lamartine’s daughter is in the band, of course.
This all seems wildly unfair to Henry. After his attempt to get three members of the school board recalled is thwarted he organizes opposition to those three in the next general election, enlisting, as candidates, former Town Attorney Charlie Mulcahy, a flamboyant gay man and a just-turned-18 high school sports star, “Moose” Fulton. These three become the “reform” candidates.
The local election of a small town’s school board is not, in global terms, important. But the vivid characters make this a very enjoyable tale of small town politics. I never lost interest.
7 out of 10.