Since The Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp contains much satire, it should come as no surprise if some readers are bothered by some aspects of the novel.

It is, after all, the purpose of satire to create disturbance, but Peck softens that disturbance with humor. Even so, satire aims at more than disturbance; it hopes to force those readers who are disturbed to reevaluate their beliefs and behavior. Moreover, the satirist is traditionally a sensitive reformer deeply concerned, at heart, about the human condition.

Peck's narrator, Blossom Culp, is unsparing in her exposure of Bluff City's mean-spirited citizens who disguise their bigotry in the clothing of respectable conformity. Readers who expect respectable role models in young adult literature might be dissatisfied with Blossom. But this is part of the point of the novel. Blossom might not possess the manners, the money, the clothes, or the home...