Richie's Picks: Great Books for Children and Young Adults

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"When life looks like Easy Street, there is danger at your door."
--Grateful Dead

"Life will sooner or later show its claws."
--Anton Chekhov

Jed Berg is feeling pretty good about life:

"Say you're finally sixteen and things are coming together. In the space of six months you got your driver's license, grew sideburns, landed a major girlfriend, made number one singles in varsity tennis. Like pieces of a puzzle--a bird, a cloud, blue sky, yellow sun--things are falling into place."

Jed even feels good about his parents, who have successful careers and who--unlike many other kids he knows--are actually together.

"In fact, your friends admire both your parents. They don't mind hanging out at your house because your father (an architect) jokes with them, which means he takes them seriously, and your mother (an attorney) bakes them ginger cookies and chocolate bars. Even [your girlfriend] Cassie says, 'You've got the coolest parents.' "

But then there arrives the mysterious note for Jed requesting a meeting at a restaurant--a busy teen hangout:

"She stared at me. Bright-pink hair above heavy black eye shadow plus enough metal in her nose to make airport detectors beep at fifty yards. Dark, gothy clothes."

This young stranger's message for Jed:

"Your father is sleeping with my mother."

"All your children are poor unfortunate victims of lies you believe A plague upon your ignorance that keeps the young from the truth they deserve..."
--Frank Zappa

CLAWS is a harrowing tale of what can happen to children because of their parents' behavior. What occurs as a result of this revelation is a story of two families caught in a downward spiral with the kids in the middle. My fascination with what will happen next to Jed and the pink-haired punk chick kept me white-knuckled and up late until the story reached its conclusion. Set near Duluth, Minnesota, the book's cover photo of a canoe cutting through a time-lapse blur of trees, water, and sky provides a perfect complement to the out-of-control events that lie within.

" 'Well, back to work,' my father said to me. His voice sounded odd, but maybe it was my ears shutting down. Like the rest of me. I pretended to yawn.
" 'Maybe I will take a little paddle in the canoe,' I said. 'I'm getting the drift of things here.'
" 'Sure, Jeddy, fine,' he said quickly. 'Go ahead. And take your time, son.'
"Son. God I hated this day.
"I headed down to the canoe. He didn't even remind me to wear a life jacket."

CLAWS rips apart Jed Berg's notion of his perfect life. And CLAWS sure as heck grabbed me.

Richie Partington
http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com