Rook: A Novel

by Anthony McGowan

Overview

"Lucid and sharp as broken glass, it’s a book filled with raw, elemental emotion.” —The Guardian

When Kenny and Nicky rescue a rook left for dead, Kenny is determined to keep it alive. Nicky doubts the scruffy bird will make it, but then Nicky has plenty else to worry about. This time, it’s not his dad or Kenny who needs help – his dad’s sorting his life out and Kenny’s busy making plans with his new best friend. Now it’s Nicky’s turn to struggle—with a school bully, his first love, and the fact that everything is about to go very, very wrong.

Union Square & Co.’s EVERYONE CAN BE A READER books are expertly written, thoughtfully designed with dyslexia-friendly fonts and paper tones, and 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:	9781454954804
Publisher:	Union Square & Co.
Publication date:	04/02/2024
Series:	Everyone Can Be a Reader Series
Edition description:	High readability
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	98,758
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

This brief, gripping novel will appeal even to reluctant readers . . . . A heartening message for readers buffeted by gusts of hormonal Sturm und Drang.”—Kirkus

From the Publisher

2024-01-05
Adolescent riptides test bonds of both friendship and kinship in this third of four loosely linked tales, following 2024’s Pike.

Sharing several members of its largely white English cast and a few plot elements with earlier outings (but well able to stand on its own), this simply written episode starts with another animal rescue. Fourteen-year-old Nicky and his intellectually disabled older brother, Kenny, interrupt a sparrow hawk that’s ripping into a rook, and they take the wounded bird home to nurse. But the story really focuses on Nicky’s suddenly rocky emotional state and his uncontrolled outbursts. The frantic, bloody attack is first relayed from the rook’s point of view, and as a result, Nicky’s narrative inherits a visceral immediacy that it never loses. The story follows the escalating consequences for Nicky of his simmering anger, a too-ready mouth, and a mad crush on classmate Sarah, which include expulsion from school and heavy doses of guilt for offending his friends, his dad, his dad’s terrific lady friend, and even his loyal and loving brother. Eventually, though, Nicky does get a grip on himself and, with the insight that our lives are the stories we tell ourselves and others, he resolutely sets out to mend fences. By the time the rook has nearly healed enough to fly, Nicky even has Sarah laughing with him. This brief, gripping novel will appeal even to reluctant readers.

A heartening message for readers buffeted by gusts of hormonal Sturm und Drang. (Fiction. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews