Three Clams and an Oyster - Hardcover

Powell, Randy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374375267 ISBN 13: 9780374375263

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 2002

Synopsis

A four-man flag-football team in need of an Oyster.

Sixteen-year-old Flint McCallister is the captain of a four-man flag-football team called Three Clams and an Oyster. Flint and the other two Clams, Beaterson and Deshutsis, are going to give this season all they’ve got, but, as usual, they’re having Oyster problems. The first Oyster on the team died a couple of years ago. The current one, Cade Savage, is partying too hard and is unreliable. Flint and the Clams are faced with a dilemma: should they stick with their old friend Cade or dump him and go with a new Oyster? And if they dump Cade, who will they get to replace him? Tim Goon, the unknown quantity with the roadkill hairdo? Thor, the nice-guy stoner? Or the girl, Summerfield, who pushes them out of their comfort zone and doesn’t shave her legs?

In searching for an Oyster, Flint and his buddies are forced to reexamine their hallowed traditions and old habits – and to take a hard look at who they are and where they’re going.

About this title

Review:

High school juniors Flint McCallister, Dwight Deshutis, and Rick Beaterson's four-man flag football team, Three Clams and an Oyster, is short one shellfish. Cade Savage, their fourth, would rather party than practice. The guys know they have to get serious if they really want to go to Nationals, and they're soon scrambling to find a replacement before the September deadline. Should they go with Thor Hupf, who's a great player but a total stoner, or Tim Goon, who, despite his penchant for silk shirts and bad hair, owns a ski cabin that he might invite the Clams to? Their best bet is pretty jock Rachel Summerfield, whose natural talent for flag football almost outweighs the fact that she doesn't shave her legs, and well, she's a girl. Through riotously funny conversations, intense confrontations, and outright arguments, it becomes clear that there's a lot more to this three-way friendship than football. From one momentous Friday to Sunday, McCallister, Deshutis, and Beaterson wrestle with questions of life, death, and loyalty in their pursuit of the one oyster that holds their winning pearl.

Three Clams and an Oyster isn't about football any more than The Old Man and the Sea is about fishing. Instead, Randy Powell uses flag football as the metaphorical glue that holds this incredibly intelligent, subtle story about self-awareness and maturity together. He brilliantly captures that precise moment when adolescence blurs into adulthood, an epiphany that is sometimes a year in the making, or sometimes the product of one unforgettable weekend. (Ages 13 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

About the Author:

Randy Powell is the author of many books for young adults. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0374375267
• ISBN 13: 9780374375263
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224