The Placing - Hardcover

Dracup, Angela

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0575048905 ISBN 13: 9780575048904

Publisher: Trafalgar Square Books, 1991

Synopsis

Ten-year-old Jonny Hardcastle, who is more parent than child to his incompetent mother, is placed in foster care after stabbing his mother's lover

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 8 Up-- Jonny Hardcastle is used to a cold house, little food, and even less money. His mother is always sad, sleepy, or disengaged, so that Jonny has become more parent than child, loving her intensely and missing school to look after her. On his tenth birthday, he plunges a knife into the back of her lover and is changed forever. Welfare officials put the boy in a delinquent's facility when his mother is unable to put the man out of the house. Jonny's inability to read, a bitter mismatch with a foster family, and his mother's pregnancy devastate him. Just when the situation seems impossible, a new foster mother is suggested: artistic, unconventional, indefatigable Lottie. A wonderfully structured first-person narration swiftly sweeps readers into Jonny's personna, where they experience firsthand the effects of passive child abuse. The characterization is so full and strong that readers will excuse, on some level, each and every adult who lets Jonny down. They may not agree, but they will regretfully and painfully understand, and accept that people disappoint and life is flawed. They will also see that with courage and forgiveness they can make it shine. A powerful novel for introspective readers.
- Cindy Darling Codell, Belmont Junior High School, Winchester, KY
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews:

In a fit of jealous rage, ten-year-old Jonny stabs his mother's newest boyfriend; as a result, he spends the next five years in foster care. As he shuttles between group homes and a pair of well-meaning but inflexible foster parents, Jonny's fiercely simple devotion to his mother is his only anchor--but even that begins to weaken when he comes to realize, on her increasingly infrequent visits, how chronically irresponsible she is. Jonny describes his feelings of futility and rootlessness with great clarity. His perspective is plainly that of an adult- -his experiences with peers and school remain mostly in the background, while the personalities of his mother, other grown- ups, and the string of social workers who keep tabs on him are distinct and often complex. Jonny finds a stable home at last with Lotte, a wise, experienced foster mother who has enough insight to treat him like a person rather than as a Problem. Dracup puts the British social-welfare system in a respectful light here; aside from a few instances of rough language, her characters are gentle and good-hearted. (Fiction. 11-15) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Trafalgar Square Books
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0575048905
• ISBN 13: 9780575048904
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 192