Do Not Pass Go - Hardcover

Hill, Kirkpatrick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1416914005 ISBN 13: 9781416914006

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2007

Synopsis

Deet's world turns upside down when his father is arrested for drug use. It doesn't seem possible that kind, caring Dad could be a criminal! After all, he only took the pills to stay awake so he could work two jobs. Now what will happen? How will Deet be able to face his classmates? Where will they get money? And most importantly, will Dad be okay in prison?

Hurt, angry, and ashamed, Deet doesn't want to visit his father in jail. But when Mom goes back to work, Deet starts visiting Dad after school. It's frightening at first, but as he adjusts to the routine, Deet begins to see the prisoners as people with stories of their own, just like his dad. Deet soon realizes that prison isn't the terrifying place of movies and nightmares. In fact, Dad's imprisonment leads Deet to make a few surprising discoveries -- about his father, his friends, and himself.

With moving realism, Kirkpatrick Hill brings to light the tumultuous experience of having a parent in jail in this honest and stirring story of a young man forced to grow up quickly.

About this title

About the Author

Kirkpatrick Hill lives in Fairbanks, Alaska. She was an elementary school teacher for more than thirty years, most of that time in the Alaskan "bush." Hill is the mother of six children and the grandmother of eight. Her three earlier books, Toughboy and Sister, Winter Camp, and The Year of Miss Agnes, have all been immensely popular. Her fourth book with McElderry Books, Dancing at the Odinochka, was a Junior Library Guild Selection. Hill's visits to a family member in jail inspired her to write Do Not Pass Go.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6–9—High-schooler Deet is a good kid but feels alienated at his school in Fairbanks, AK, because his family has less money than his classmates. When his father is arrested for drug possession and sent to prison, his first thought is about what the kids at school will think of him. Reality sets in as life in Deet's family changes dramatically. His mother goes back to work and Deet spends every day after school with his dad. His view of prisons and prisoners begins to change when he learns people's stories. Deet's notebook entries for his English class give readers insight into the internal changes he is experiencing. The teen sees the bleakness of prison life but learns to see the positive effects of his father's incarceration. While the message that prisons aren't necessarily set up to rehabilitate criminals is not subtle, this a good story with a believable main character. The book wraps up a bit quickly with Deet's father's release to a halfway house, but is still satisfying as it doesn't tie things up too neatly.—Kristin Anderson, Columbus Metropolitan Library System, OH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1416914005
• ISBN 13: 9781416914006
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240