Lark: A Novel

by Anthony McGowan

Overview

The Carnegie Medal-winning conclusion to the powerful, authentic young adult book series Everyone Can Be a Reader (Hard Truths), expertly designed to engage reluctant readers and provide an accessible reading experience for all.

Things are getting tense at home for Nicky and Kenny as they wait for a visit from their estranged mother. To escape, they go for a walk on the moors, taking their little Jack Russell terrier with them. But what should have been a laugh, a lark, turns deadly when the weather changes and they are caught in a blizzard. Nothing will ever be quite the same again . . .

Perfect for anyone seeking gritty, realistic books for teen boys, the Everyone Can Be a Reader (Hard Truths) hi-lo book series presents accessible coming-of-age tales in an easy-to-read style. Union Square & Co.'s EVERYONE CAN BE A READER books utilize dyslexia reading tools like specialized fonts and paper tones, and are carefully formatted to meet readers where they are with engaging stories that encourage reading success across a wide range of age and interest levels.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781454954781
Publisher:	Union Square & Co.
Publication date:	04/02/2024
Series:	Everyone Can Be a Reader Series
Edition description:	High readability
Pages:	120
Sales rank:	44,343
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Anthony McGowan is the author of many critically acclaimed YA novels, including Hellbent, Henry Tumour, and The Knife That Killed Me. His Rook was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, and judges described the 2020 Carnegie Medal winner Lark as “a standalone masterpiece.” He lives in England.

Editorial Reviews

Teens will be drawn in by the authentic, atmospheric storytelling in this series, designed to be accessible to reluctant and struggling readers . . . . A strong, funny, wrenching series finish.”
—Kirkus

From the Publisher

2024-01-05
Brothers with a history of rescuing animals need rescuing themselves.

McGowan pulls his quartet of linked episodes together with a final, brilliant twist in this stand-alone series capper that follows Rook (2024). An easy day hike over a deserted Yorkshire moor in search of larks with Tina, their Jack Russell terrier, turns into a life-or-death struggle for Nicky and his developmentally disabled big brother, Kenny, after a sudden snowstorm drives them off the marked path, and Nicky breaks his leg in a fall. As river waters rise and night and the temperature begin to fall, Nicky forces his reluctant brother to set out for help. As in the previous outings, the close, loving bond between the brothers—one fiercely protective, the other kind and loyal to the core—shines out from Nicky’s simply phrased narrative. The boys demonstrate tender attentions to one another and have hilarious exchanges (such as about the consequences of peeing in freezing temperatures), and Nicky shares distracting yarns about a legendary shape-shifting monster of the moors and the time their dad tried to roast a whole, undressed pheasant. The story follows the boys’ agonizing efforts to move to a safer elevation, the onset of hypothermia, and the arrival of rescue workers, and it concludes with a bittersweet epilogue set 40 years later. Teens will be drawn in by the authentic, atmospheric storytelling in this series, designed to be accessible to reluctant and struggling readers. Main characters are cued white.

A strong, funny, wrenching series finish. (Fiction. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews