Showing posts with label drugs-fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drugs-fiction. Show all posts

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Choyce, Lesley. Scam.

Choyce, Lesley.  Scam.  Saddleback  2016  113p  $9.95  ISBN 978-1-4598-1174-4   ms/hs  High-Low  Conflict  VG-BN 

Josh has dealt with the drug problems of his mother. He protected her and hid the truth from social workers. Now she has died of an overdose and he will be sent to a group home. On the way to his mother’s funeral, Josh meets Lindsay. They seem to hit it off until he discovers that she has stolen his wallet. He chases her down and explains his situation. She convinces him to go to the funeral.  They become friends of a sort. She steals out of boredom and to get attention, but she also helps Josh deal with living in the group home.  When Lindsey’s brother dies, he helps her.
Written for teens at a low reading level (3.2), this high-interest short novel works great for reluctant readers or those with other reading problems. 

Summary: Josh meets a girl named Lindsay. Each of them has issues. Josh’s mother just died of a drug overdose, and Lindsay steals for fun.  As they get to know each other, they help each other with their problems.

Drugs-Fiction, Kleptomania-Fiction, Friendship-Fiction

--Joan Theal     

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Burgess, Melvin. Nicholas Dane.

Burgess, Melvin Nicholas Dane
Henry Holt/macmillan children's pub group 2010 403p 17.99 978-0-8050-9203-5 hs E-BN


Another amazing book by Melvin Burgess. This book pulls out all the stops when explaining the tragic life of Nicholas Dane, a young man who is put through the social services wringer in England when his mother dies of a heroin overdose. In the same vein as his earlier work Smack, this author paints with words. The reader is immediately grabbed into the world of the young protagonist, Nicholas Dane, and spirals right with him as he is pulled and tugged, within and without, by adult acquaintances who mean well, and the nasty viscisitudes of ╘homes╒ for orphans and troubled youth. For the most part fast paced, this book reads easily and swiftly. The author paints all of the characters with very realistic strokes of the word. Students who loved Smack and the prose novels by Ellen Hopkins will definitely find this a must read. Realistic Fiction Fisher, Lynn