One Missing Finger

Carol L. MacKay is a children’s librarian living in Bawlf, Alberta.

Charlie Cairns is a fast-talking, yarn-spinning 12-year-old who’s on
the hunt for a pair of red gloves to give to Gwyneth, the girl of his
dreams. She is older and, unfortunately for Charlie, already has a
boyfriend. Not one to give up easily, Charlie develops a number of
contingency plans to obtain the gloves in the cheapest manner possible,
all of which involve a good amount of conning and conniving.

Charlie’s friends, Sidney and Jeffrey, have problems of their own.
Sidney’s fallen for Joey, a girl in his karate class, whose mother
refuses to let her go out with Sidney. Sidney isn’t the only one with
Joey problems. During practices, Joey has injured several of the boys,
including Jeffrey. Being hurt by a girl doesn’t sit too well with
Jeffrey’s extended family, especially now that Jeffrey’s father has
left. To them, being hurt by a girl makes this situation an even bigger
crisis and illustrates, all too clearly, that Jeffrey needs his father.

One Missing Finger is the second volume in the Don Trembath’s Black
Belt Series for preteens. His characters certainly aren’t perfect:
they lie, are selfish, don’t always respect authority, and struggle to
make sense out of the messy situations in which they find themselves.
Trembath’s readers will appreciate the character-driven humor in this
well-crafted, fast-paced story. Listening to Charlie’s finagling alone
will force chuckles out of most kids and entice even the most reluctant
reader to read on. Recommended.