Hautman, Pete. Godless.HAUTMAN, Pete. Godless god·less adj. 1. Recognizing or worshiping no god. 2. Wicked, impious, or immoral. god  less·ly adv. . Simon & Schuster Simon & SchusterU.S. publishing company. It was founded in 1924 by Richard L. Simon (1899–1960) and M. Lincoln Schuster (1897–1970), whose initial project, the original crossword-puzzle book, was a best-seller. . 198p. c2004. 1-4169-0816-1. $7.99. JS * To quote the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, May 2004: The main character in Godless is a 15-year-old boy named Jason Bock Noun 1. bock - a very strong lager traditionally brewed in the fall and aged through the winter for consumption in the spring bock beer lager beer, lager - a general term for beer made with bottom fermenting yeast (usually by decoction mashing); originally , a smart and smart-alecky only child who is driving his parents crazy. Jason is a bit of a geek A technically oriented person. It has typically implied a "nerdy" or "weird" personality, someone with limited social skills who likes to tinker with scientific or high-tech projects. The origin of the term dates back to the late 1800s. , whose best friend Shin is even geekier, if possible; but the two are brilliant. They have spent many hours since they met designing graphic novels and pursuing strange obsessions, so their idea of starting a new religion doesn't come completely out of the blue. Jason, however, sees their new religion as a satirical poke at Verb 1. poke at - to push against gently; "She nudged my elbow when she saw her friend enter the restaurant" nudge, prod jog - give a slight push to elbow - shove one's elbow into another person's ribs Catholicism, and about as meaningless as he has decided Catholicism is. (Beware Jason's comments about certain aspects of Catholicism; for instance, his remark that if you buy the belief in transubstantiation transubstantiation: see Eucharist. transubstantiation In Christianity, the change by which the bread and wine of the Eucharist become in substance the body and blood of Jesus, though their appearance is not altered. , then the communion wafer is "a sliver of Jesus meat.") The adventures that Jason and Shin start in motion with their new religion are the stuff that will get YAs' attention. The basic tenet of their faith is that water is the most important part of life on earth and they will worship the town's water tower--"The Ten-Legged One." This involves midnight excursions to the tower and climbing the tower, which interests several other teenagers who become members of the faith. They egg one another on to more dangerous activities, one involving a strange baptism ceremony swimming in the million-gallon tank of water at the top of the tower. Eventually there is an accident, their "crimes" are discovered, and there is one result no one could have predicted: Shin has to be hospitalized because he starts to really believe in this new religion and is losing touch with reality. Inventive, frequently funny and sometimes scary, this YA novel has a lot to offer readers. Note: Godless is an ALA Best Book for YAs, and it is a winner of the National Book Award. Claire Rosser, KLIATT |
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