The Weirdo - Softcover

Taylor, Theodore

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0380720175 ISBN 13: 9780380720170

Publisher: HarperTrophy, 1993

Synopsis

They call Chip Clewt, who tracks bears, The Weirdo. But no one knows much about him. Only that he lives in the eerie swamp where Samantha Sanders found a body and where she saw another body get dumped.

Finally, she meets The Weirdo, sees his scarred face, looks into his tortured soul, and becomes his friend. Together, they begin the nightmare search for the killer who has stalked innocent victims, through the murky waters and dangerous marshes of the swamp.

About this title

About the Author:

Theodore Taylor was born in North Carolina and began writing at the age of thirteen as a cub reporter for the Portsmouth, Virginia Evening Star. Leaving home at seventeen to join the Washington Daily News as a copy boy, he worked his way toward New York City and became an NBC network sportswriter at the age of nineteen. Mr. Taylor is the author of a dozen books for young readers, among them the award-winning The Cay. He lives in Laguna Beach, California, with his wife, Flora.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 6-9-- ``Weirdo'' is the insulting nickname the townsfolk give Chip Clewt, a 17-year-old boy who had been badly burned in an airplane crash before he came to live with his artist father in the secluded Powhatan Swamp. Now assisting a graduate student observe and tag bears in the swamp in order to protect them, he has aroused the tempers of local hunters. Samantha Sanders, the 16-year-old daughter of one of the most vocal opponents of the hunting ban, meets Chip when she follows a prize hunting dog into the swamp. She gradually comes to understand the issues that concern him, and when the graduate student disappears, she and Chip investigate on their own. A strong friendship develops as the two lonely teenagers solve a murder while lobbying for animal rights. The story is carefully plotted with revealing flashbacks and alternating chapters that juxtapose Samantha's experiences with Chip's college essays on life in the Powhatan. The language is richly descriptive and the animal research information interesting. Both teenagers come to the realization that self-acceptance is the first stage in loving someone else, and that gives them the courage to make a difference in their environmental stand. A highly readable story that has the elements of romance, mystery, and animal adventure going for it. --Yvonne Frey, Peoria Public Schools, IL
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperTrophy
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0380720175
• ISBN 13: 9780380720170
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240