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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It was really brutal - pages and pages of animal cruelty. It was not endorsing it but it still felt like so much. It also feels very dated, even got being 10 years old (though it being British could be part of that).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Nicky and Kenny are wonderful. Just a little sad.
Somewhere between Dead Man’s Shoes and David Almond’s The Colour of the Sun, this is bleak whilst being hopeful, full of hatred but showing love.
Nicky and his brother Kenny are bullied into baiting badgers by a violent gang of local boys. They manage to rescue one, a baby, and bring it up at home while researching how to set it back into the wild safely. Nicky learns about himself, his father and what family means.
Nicky and his brother Kenny are bullied into baiting badgers by a violent gang of local boys. They manage to rescue one, a baby, and bring it up at home while researching how to set it back into the wild safely. Nicky learns about himself, his father and what family means.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
A short, moving book that packed a lot of feeling and thoughtfulness into a few pages. It didn't flinch from some horrid human-on-animal violence and its consequences but finished with message offering a little hope.
medium-paced
A Mice of Men meets Where the Red Fern Grows. A classic tale of boy, brother, bullies, and nursing animals back to health.
Tense, sweet and brief. It reminded me of one of Roald Dahl's short stories for older children, 'The Swan' (from 'Henry Sugar') when a boy is bullied into wearing a swan's wings. It's the same realistic, everyday story that could affect a young person, with well-drawn characters and meaning bullies.
Our well-drawn heroes here are Nicky and Kenny. Teenage Nicky is drawn by his 'simple' (his words) younger brother into a meeting with local bullies, out with their dogs to bait badgers. Kenny soon sees that it isn't a game, as dogs are sent into the sett.
The baiting scene is quite intense and well conveyed. The story afterwards switches completely to Nicky and Kenny back at home with a secret to care for... Their single dad, on bail, unemployed and despondent features in he second half, and the half-forgotten bullies don't fade away. It ends with excitement, a lovely epilogue and threads tied together.
I've loved McGowan's longer novels for young people in the past (Henry Tumour showed he was willing to cover quite dark topics with humour). This short Barrington Stokes entry is a departure, theme-wise, but is a cracking little tale that suits the short-chapter format, is well-written and characterised, and will keep interest.
This would be great as a class read as well as one for individuals.
Our well-drawn heroes here are Nicky and Kenny. Teenage Nicky is drawn by his 'simple' (his words) younger brother into a meeting with local bullies, out with their dogs to bait badgers. Kenny soon sees that it isn't a game, as dogs are sent into the sett.
The baiting scene is quite intense and well conveyed. The story afterwards switches completely to Nicky and Kenny back at home with a secret to care for... Their single dad, on bail, unemployed and despondent features in he second half, and the half-forgotten bullies don't fade away. It ends with excitement, a lovely epilogue and threads tied together.
I've loved McGowan's longer novels for young people in the past (Henry Tumour showed he was willing to cover quite dark topics with humour). This short Barrington Stokes entry is a departure, theme-wise, but is a cracking little tale that suits the short-chapter format, is well-written and characterised, and will keep interest.
This would be great as a class read as well as one for individuals.