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Sent by his guardian to live at a Louisiana school for retarded boys, Lizard, a bright, deformed youngster, escapes with the help of a visiting actor who gives him a role in his repertory company's production of "The Tempest"

Grade 8 Up-- A thought-provoking novel for mature readers, Lizard is the story of a teenager given this nickname because of his appearance and solitary nature. When Miss Cooley, the only adult in his life, leaves to get married, she ships Lizard to a state school for the retarded. Rather than confining him, as might be expected, this move is only the first step for Lizard into a wider world. Besides the handicapped boys and adult workers he meets there, he encounters a traveling salesman who pretends to be his father, a down-and-out troupe of actors who spirit him out of the school, an orphaned brother and sister living in a swamp, a museum curator, a black artist, and ultimately, Miss Cooley again. None of these people are whom they seem, any more than Lizard is. In a familiar conceit, Lizard only begins to find his real self by playing the role of someone else; he takes the role of Caliban in a small-town production of Shakespeare's The Tempest . The characters in the novel are equally dramatic, the text is loose and slangy, the plot twists and turns without a creak or a groan, with the whole not only deserving but requiring a second reading. There is some rough language that seems not to add anything to the already stark realism. This will be of greatest interest to readers familiar with the play. Booktalking will help to broaden its audience, deservedly so. --Barbara Hutcheson, Greater Victoria Public Library, B.C., Canada
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Even though Lucius ("Lizard") Sims suffers only from a facial deformity and other birth defects, his guardian sends him off to the State School for Retarded Boys because she is getting married and wants him out from underfoot. When a man claiming to be Lizard's long-lost father takes him out of the institution, he's off on a series of tragicomic adventures that include an interstate chase, his first--unrequited--love, his acting debut (in The Tempest ), murder, fraud and a kind of homecoming. With bold originality, Covington's finely crafted first novel explores the time-honored themes of gaining worldly wisdom and resolving adolescent fears of being different. with bold originality. Throughout his tumultuous, sometimes violent and often funny escapades, Lizard maintains his goodnatured outlook, even in the painful throes of losing his innocence. Lizard is an intriguing cross between Candide and Huckleberry Finn. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Walleyed and misshapen, Lucius (``Lizard'') looks bizarre; at 13, he's never been to a regular school. Now the guardian he calls ``Miss Cooley'' dumps him at a Louisiana state school for retarded boys. Callahan and Sallie, down-and-out actors who come to the school to enact Treasure Island, spirit him away to Birmingham to join a ragged troupe as Caliban in The Tempest. Along the way, Lizard makes friends with Rain and her brother Sammy, two black kids who have lived alone since their mother's death and hope to be rescued from their abusive preacher- guardian. Throughout his modestly understated narrative, Lizard is quietly discovering who he really is. He never quite understands Shakespeare's words, but learns their meaning and turns in a creditable, resourceful performance; he stands up to the alcoholic Callahan, weathers their battles, and finally finds in him a kind of father figure; he tastes happiness during a playful swim with Rain and Sammy, trades stories with them, and establishes a mutual trust that sustains them all later. Lizard lives in a cruel world where adults are often harsh and unjust to the young (like Prospero to Caliban), yet he focuses on the generous spirits he encounters and manages to evoke the best in some others: in a gesture of reconciliation, he even goes back, at least temporarily, to Miss Cooley, who turns out to be his mother. A first novel (Eighth Annual Delacorte Press Prize) with a fresh, memorably sweet picture of its offbeat characters and singular, compelling events. (Fiction. 12+) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.