Instruct: Classify a given review into positive or negative sentiment.
Query: Good coming of age story

Good southern coming-of-age book for middle school boys. The characters occasionally seemed a little mature for their ages, but likeable none-the-less. I don't know why the mother always has to die in boys' coming of age stories, but it does seem to be an over-riding theme including this book. Ah well. A custody battle, although not bad, between (Tobin's) the main character's father and grandmother is a central theme as well as raising chickens and whether or not chickens have souls and friendship and identity. Oddly it all ties together and works. I enjoyed this one and will recommend it to boys and some girls age 9-12.