Lekich, John. The Prisoner of Snowflake Falls.

Lekich, John.     The Prisoner of Snowflake Falls.    Orca  266p  $12.95  978-1-55469-978-0       ms/hs     VG-BN   Realistic Fiction

Henry will amaze young readers with his antics.  When his uncle goes to jail for theft, Henry lives in a tree house to avoid foster care.  Voyeur and thief, he watches his neighbors, gets involved in their lives and steals just what he needs to survive.  Sometimes he even helps his victims!  With his impeccable writing skill, author John Lekich has created an antagonist who is also a protagonist.  Despite his foibles, Henry is both comical and pitiful, lovable and enviable.  When his victim appears on the scene during a robbery, Henry’s life changes forever, or does it?  A well-meaning judge gives him a "Second Chance" and sends him to live with a quirky family in Snowflake Falls, the Wingates.  While he is there, Henry discovers that a family does not have to be biological.   The Wingates are desperate for some help, and Henry arrives just in the nick of time.   Henry fits right into their neediness.  Henry affects positive change in the lives of everyone he meets in Snowflake Falls, yet he is not a do-gooder!  Lo and behold, Uncle Andy gets out of jail, and where does he show up?  Snowflake Falls!  With the help of his friends, Cookie Collito and Wally Whispers, Uncle Andy sets up a burglary to end all burglaries, and Henry’s small town is the target.  Henry is involved up to his neck, and as life will have it, there is not a "cutesy" ending to this story.  It is authentic, unpredictable and humorous.  Young readers as well as old will enjoy Henry’s character, the Wingates' antics, Lekich’s descriptions of small-town life, and the overall message of the book.      

Crime-Fiction, Adoption-Fiction                       --Martha Squaresky