Burn It

Kelly L. Green is the co-editor of the Children’s Literature edition
of the Canadian Book Review Annual.

The Flash Fiction series brings us four high-interest, low-vocabulary
books aimed at preadolescent and young teenage boys who do not do a lot
of reading. The series’ first book, The Things, is a gripping
science-fiction tale about a young man named Sid who literally runs into
a commercial laboratory’s genetic experiment gone horribly wrong. Sid
and his friends, Lorne and his sister Kirsty (with whom Sid is
infatuated), must fight “the things” (large buglike creatures who
eat humans) with only their own intelligence and ingenuity (and a couple
of rifles). The book grabs the reader’s interest in the first chapter
and holds it to the last page.

In Mall Rats, the teenage hero is called Big Jon, and his challenge is
to keep two rival shopping-mall gangs (the Grills, who hang out in the
Food Grill, and the Courts, who congregate in the Food Court) from going
to war and possibly killing each other. Subplots include Big Jon’s
decision to return to school, his infatuation with a girl named Mary
Anne, who comes from an abusive home, and his confrontation with a
sadistic mall cop. While almost as suspenseful as The Things, Mall Rats
is, from an adult point of view, depressing in its graphic depiction of
the psychological, educational, and spiritual poverty of life for many
teenagers in our society. One wishes it didn’t ring so true.

In Burn It, our hero is John, who works in a store that sells books and
comics. His trouble begins when he arrives at work one night to discover
his boss, Mr. Kane, at the mercy of a loan shark’s thug. Mr. Kane
confesses that he has borrowed money from the loan shark, can’t pay
it, and is in big trouble. A mysterious fire, which almost kills a
homeless man named Tom who was asleep in the dumpster, distracts
everyone’s attention. But there is more here than meets the eye, and
John, aided only by Tom and the lovely Tanya, who works at Donut King,
must solve the mystery.

Bush Party finds Troy, a young man who has had a bad experience with
drinking and driving, attending his first party in six months. There he
finds his ex-girlfriend, Megan, whom he still loves, involved in an
abusive relationship with an older boy named Wes. Troy tries to help
Megan, at the risk of his own life, and must also save hers before the
book’s tumultuous finale.

All four books are page-turners. While all follow a fairly strict
formula (teenage boy must face great challenges and in the end win, or
at least impress, girl), they are uniformly well written and
suspensefully plotted. Characterization is, for the most part, black and
white, with evil represented in the form of figures of petty authority
or drunken rivals for the fair lady’s attention. Formulas do not
require condescension, however, and both Godfrey and Weis treat their
readers with respect. They also make a conscious effort to avoid sexism
in their portrayal of the girl/love-interest characters. These books are
written for young people who read at a basic level but require material
that matches their own knowledge and sophistication. I couldn’t put
the books down, and I don’t think young readers will be able to do so
either. All are recommended, with an especially high recommendation for
The Things and Burn It.