Snake.

Kristin Butcher writes novels for young adults. Her most recent works
are Cairo Kelly and the Mann, The Gamma War, and The Tomorrow Tunnel.

We have all seen bestselling books hit the big screen, but in the case of Degrassi Junior High, the process worked in reverse. The popular television series aired in 1987and a year later the books debuted. They were based on the characters and stories of the television program and immediately found an adolescent audience. Nearly twenty years later, the television series has been reborn in Degrassi—the Next Generation, and Lorimer Press has used this resurgence of interest to reissue those early books.

Penned by the same writers behind the television program, the books accurately reflect the characters and mood of the onscreen stories. Snake (Susin Nielsen) follows Archie as he tries to come to terms with his beloved brother’s homosexuality and his own identity. Caitlin (Catherine Dunphy) demonstrates how Caitlin’s judgment gets clouded by her devotion to a cause and her involvement with an older crowd. Joey Jeremiah (Kathryn Ellis) deals with self-esteem issues that arise when Joey fails grade eight. Spike (Loretta Castellarin and Ken Roberts) explores the nightmare of becoming pregnant at fourteen.

Though all four books are good, Snake and Spike are exceptional. The characters are credible and the plots are intriguing. The stories should resonate with today’s young people just as they did with earlier readers. However, more diligent editing would have eliminated numerous typos which jar the flow of the text in all four books. The stories could also have been made more current by updating references to celebrities, fads, styles, etc. Recommended.