The Hangashore

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Because John is a 16-year-old with Down Syndrome, no one knows what he
will say next. Sometimes he is funny, sometimes he is not. Fortunately,
everyone in his Newfoundland fishing village knows that John really
means no harm. Everyone, that is, except the new magistrate. He is a
severe and pompous man who takes an immediate dislike to John and his
comments. The magistrate’s tolerance evaporates after John embarrasses
him in church by calling him a “hangashore,” a local expression for
a person that is pitied for their uselessness. When John overhears the
magistrate threaten to send him to an institution in St. John’s, the
young lad fears he may never see his hometown again and runs away. But
John and the magistrate are destined to meet again in a place that has
no tolerance for hangashores.

Even to an outsider, it is not hard to figure out that to be called a
hangashore is not a compliment. Author/illustrator Geoff Butler has
managed to deftly spin an exceptional story around the several nuances
of this wonderful word. The characters he creates are colorful and
complex. The plot is humorous and heartbreaking. With prose and
paintbrush, Butler captures perfectly the high and low tides of life in
an isolated postwar Newfoundland fishing community. It is hard to see
where this book could be improved. Highly recommended.