Brooks, Kevin. Lucas.Scholastic, The Chicken House. 432p. c2002. 0-439-45698-3. $16.95. Fifteen-year-old Cait lives on a small island off the coast of England with her father, a writer of YA novels. Her older brother, home from university, is hanging out with a bad crowd of hard partying teenagers, but Cait wants no part of this group. She is especially fearful of rich boy Jamie Tait, whom her father refers to as "the biggest little shit on the island," and with reason: Jamie, though he has a jealous girlfriend, makes threatening sexual advances toward Cait. When a mysterious, "fine-looking" boy named Lucas appears on the island, Cait is immediately attracted to him and befriends him, and Lucas helps save her from Jamie. Lucas is living rough, in the woods (there is even a reference to Jean Craighead George's My Side of the Mountain), and the islanders Islanders may refer to:
2. In general, rumor cannot be received in evidence, but when the question is whether such rumor existed, and not its truth or falsehood, then evidence of it may be given. that he was molesting the girl. And when a girl who had been seen with Jamie is found badly slashed, Lucas is accused of the crime and the hunt is on, with tragic consequences. This suspenseful sus·pense n. 1. The condition of being physically suspended. 2. a. The state or quality of being undecided, uncertain, or doubtful. b. and moving tale is reminiscent of What Happened to Lani Garver?, by Carol Plum-Ucci (reviewed in KLIATT, September 2002), in which another teenage girl tells about a "different" boy (this one is very effeminate ef·fem·i·nate adj. 1. Having qualities or characteristics more often associated with women than men. See Synonyms at female. 2. Characterized by weakness and excessive refinement. ) who comes to her island home and awakens hatred and brutality Brutality See also Cruelty, Mutilation. Black Prince angered by Limoges’ resistance, massacred three hundred inhabitants (1370). [Eur. Hist.: Bishop, 75] Caracalla Roman emperor (211–217) massacred many thousands [Rom. among the narrow-minded residents, to her shock and horror. Brooks, the acclaimed author of Martyn Pig Martyn Pig is a thriller by Kevin Brooks, published on April 1, 2002 by The Chicken House and aimed at teens and young adults. Martyn Pig won the Branford Boase Award in 2003 and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal in 2002. (reviewed in paperback in this issue), offers a similarly compelling, dramatic, violent tale of prejudice against outsiders and a young girl's coming-of-age. |
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