Promposals and Celebrity Dancing

Reading Challenge 2017: Book with a title that's a character's name.  Brian Katcher does it again with Deacon Locke Went to Prom!  Deacon Locke is a tall, tall, tall student who has no self-confidence when it comes to people.  His senior prom is approaching and he does not have a date.  When he discovers his grandmother Jean never went to her prom, due to her husband being in Vietnam, he asks her to attend with him.  That is a turning point for his life.  They take dancing lessons at the YMCA, where he meets his soon to be girlfriend, Soraya Shadee.  Deacon and Jean turn out to be the sensation of the prom as students capture his dancing with Jean on video, which becomes a viral Youtube sensation.  At first I did not think taking Jean to prom would work, knowing that nobody over 20 is allowed at prom (at least at the high school where I teach), yet Jean is allowed entrance as she knows one of the chaperones.  His thoughtfulness when concerning his grandmother takes a sad turn when it is discovered she has dementia.  The viral video lands him a spot on a reality TV show, <i>Celebrity Dance Off</i>, forcing him to question whether or not he wants to stay home and take care of Jean, or go to California to be on the show and help make money for college and taking care of Jean.

Deacon's life is changed as Jean is moved into a care facility, their house is sold to a golf course, and he loses the only girlfriend he had.  It was a change from many happy endings as he does not end up with Soraya, but steps into adulthood through all he has learned in his adventures.  I giggled when I noticed Brian had included his name as one of the admirers of Deacon's dance moves.  

A subplot to the story is Soraya having to deal with idiotic Muslim haters, which only makes her a stronger character as even though Deacon wants to come to her rescue, she reminds him that he has always taken care of others and not really himself, which is another turning point in his growing up.

<i>Deacon Locke Went to Prom</i> is more than just a promposal and dance story.  It is about an abandoned young man (his father left him with Jean) who learns to grow up the hard way.  It ended on a happy note and a promise of Deacon and Soraya meeting up in the future.