The Seventeenth Swap (Puffin Books) - Softcover

Eloise Jarvis McGraw

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140324836 ISBN 13: 9780140324839

Publisher: Puffin Books, 1990

Synopsis

Having no money, a thirteen-year-old begins a series of swaps to get the child he babysits for a pair of cowboy boots.

About this title

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-7 Eric Greene, 12, looks after little Jimmy, his next door neighbor who is confined to a wheelchair. Jimmy covets a pair of red leather cowboy boots that he spotted in a newspaper ad, and Eric sets his heart on earning the $17.99 needed to buy the boots. Thus begins an adequate but not particularly engaging plot in which Eric wheels and deals and creates a swap system among his friends that will eventually turn up enough assets to buy Jimmy the boots. The long, complex sentences and the often difficult vocabulary slow down the predictable and not very convincing plot. The drive that Eric feels to buy Jimmy his boots is touching, as is their relationship, but the story lacks credibility or a hint of suspense. For a similar lesson about earning money, with a more original edge, try First Things First (Atheneum, 1986) by Kristi Holl. Karen Levi, Albany Public Library, N.Y.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0140324836
• ISBN 13: 9780140324839
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 176