My Brother Stealing Second - Hardcover

Naughton, Jim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060243740 ISBN 13: 9780060243746

Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books, 1989

Synopsis

After his older brother is killed in a car accident, sixteen-year-old Bobby tries to come to terms with some disturbing truths about his family and political corruption in their town as well as deal with his profound grief and the beginnings of first love.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 8-10-- In a story filled with raw adolescent emotion, Bobby Connely feels keenly the death of his much-admired older brother Billy, who died in a drunk driving accident. Bobby's emotions are a mixture of grief, anger, fear, and guilt. The fear stems from his worries that he too may be headed in the same deadly direction as his brother, with whom he shared both interests (baseball) and destructive habits (drinking). The guilt arises when he sees Annie Dunham, whose parents also died in the accident that Billy caused. Or did he? Bobby learns the shocking truth of a cover-up involving the police, his parents, and the Ryders, the family that controls the town's main industry and many of its people. Now he must not only handle his grief but deal with betrayal as well. This is a story of hurt and healing as Bobby turns to Annie, at first an unlikely source of support and consolation. Naughton has an ear for phrases and analogies that are strikingly descriptive or darkly humorous. This is at times, however, overshadowed by a plot that frequently, sometimes jarringly, shifts back in time to reveal the brothers' experiences, including sexual curiosity, and paints a picture of their closeness and Billy's personality. Annie's acceptance of Bobby and his father's recovery after slipping back into alcoholism are developments that may come a bit too easily. Although the book lacks the power and style of Judith Guest's Ordinary People (Penguin, 1982), another story of a brother's loss, there are scenes (such as the climactic baseball game) in which Naughton's writing stands out. --Susan Schuller, Martin Luther King Library, Milwaukee
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0060243740
• ISBN 13: 9780060243746
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 213