Sewer Rats
Description
$9.95
ISBN 1-55143-488-1
DDC jC813'.54
Author
Publisher
Year
Contributor
Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.
Review
In this novel for middle-schoolers, the traditional capture-the-flag
outdoor wide game finds a new setting (a city’s storm-sewer system)
and a new technology for “killing” (paintball guns).
The Sewer Rats, an informal group led by Jim McClosky, consist of six
social outcasts, who, for the last six months, have successfully
“fought paintball wars against kids from other schools.” Divided
into 18 chapters, the plot actually has three phases. In the first, at
the antagonistic insistence of tough Lisa Chambers, newcomer Carter
Saylor, who wants to become a Sewer Rat, must pass an initiation test
involving walking on a guardrail that crosses a sewage lagoon. The
second portion finds the Sewer Rats competing in the tunnels against the
Medford school warriors. During the “battle,” Carter is accidentally
injured by an errant paintball after one of the Sewer Rats deliberately
betrays his hiding place. In the plot’s final phase, Jim confronts
Lisa about her “treasonous act,” but she runs off into the sewer
tunnels where, after getting lost, she gets trapped when a rainstorm
floods the sewers. Jim, with the help of Micky Downs, another Sewer Rat,
risks his life to rescue Lisa.
Readers learn that Lisa’s dislike of Carter is rooted in her jealousy
of Carter’s being her remarried father’s stepson. Within the
limitations of the hi-lo genre, Brouwer has created a story with
sufficient character and plot development to hold the interest of
reluctant male readers. Recommended.