Dead Ends

by Erin Jade Lange

Overview

A riddle rarely makes sense the first time you hear it. The connection between Dane, a bully, and Billy D, a guy with Down Syndrome, doesn't even make sense the second time you hear it. But it's a collection of riddles that solidify their unlikely friendship.

Dane doesn't know who his dad is. Billy doesn't know where his dad is. So when Billy asks for Dane's help solving the riddles his dad left in an atlas, Dane can't help but agree. The unmarked towns lead them closer to secrets of the past. But there's one secret Billy isn't sharing. It's a secret Dane might have liked to know before he stole his mom's car and her lottery winnings and set off on a road trip that will put him face to face with Billy's dad.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781619630819
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	09/03/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	304
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Erin Jade Lange writes facts by day and fiction by night. As a journalist, she is inspired by current events and real-world issues and uses her writing to explore how those issues impact teenagers. She is an only child, which means she spent a lot of time entertaining herself as a kid. This required her to rely heavily on her own imagination, which is probably why she became a writer. Erin lives in Phoenix, Arizona. She is also the author of Butter.
www.butterslastmeal.com
Erin Jade Lange is the author of Dead Ends and Butter, an ABC New Voices selection. As a journalist, she is inspired by current events and real-world issues and uses her writing to explore how those issues impact teenagers. Erin lives in Phoenix, Arizona.
www.butterslastmeal.com
@erinjadelange.

Editorial Reviews

10/01/2013
Gr 8 Up—High school junior Dane has anger management issues. Although he is an excellent student, he is one suspension away from expulsion, and he must spend time with his neighbor Billy D., a boy with Down syndrome, to work off his detentions. What begins as a community-service project slowly turns into real friendship. Both boys have single mothers; Billy wants to find his missing father, but Dane wants nothing to do with his. Billy is obsessed with an atlas full of riddles his father left him and is convinced that they point to his dad's whereabouts. He draws Dane and their friend Seely into solving the mystery, but as they get closer to Billy's father, a sad truth appears about why Billy's mother left the man. Although the story has anger, abuse, and bullying at its core, it never feels heavy-handed, possibly because of the well-realized relationships between characters. Dane and his mother are close and loving even as they drive each other crazy. Billy and Dane's friendship is based on their similarities: they are both fatherless, have tempers, and appreciate cute girls. Dane grows up over the course of the story; he realizes he needs help in controlling his anger and seeks it out. He also gains a girlfriend in Seely and treats her well. Lange writes realistically about teens with rough lives, and readers will believe in the friendships, feel Billy's pain of abandonment, and appreciate the honesty of the not-tied-up-with-a-bow ending.—Geri Diorio, Ridgefield Library, CT

School Library Journal

Lange (Butter) explores the friendship that forms between a rage-filled 16-year-old named Dane and his new neighbor, Billy D., who has Down syndrome. Although Dane is a bully, he draws the line at picking on the disabled (“Standards, y’know?”), and when he’s offered a chance to avoid suspension by helping Billy out, he accepts it reluctantly. The boys bond over their missing fathers—Dane doesn’t know who his is, and Billy’s mother kicked his father out and moved across the country—and decide, with help from neighborhood skate punk Seely, to track down Billy’s father. Their investigation leads to road trips and revelations about their pasts. With confident storytelling, Lange ably develops Dane’s romance with Seely and his friendship with Billy, but a few details sour the story a bit. A subplot in which Dane’s working-class mother regularly wins the lottery (but refuses to cash her tickets) shouts of middle-class privilege; worse, Billy essentially exists to give Dane the epiphany he needs. The core story should keep readers interested if they can overlook those problems. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Lange deftly blends big issues (bullying, special needs, abuse) into a story of two imperfect, memorable characters. For similar reads, try Alex Flinn's novels Breathing Underwater (2001), about male aggression, and Fade to Black (2005), about Down syndrome.” —Booklist

“Lange writes realistically about teens with rough lives, and readers will believe in the friendships, feel Billy's pain of abandonment, and appreciate the honesty of the not-tied-up-with-a-bow ending.” —School Library Journal

“Lange weaves a beautiful and believable tale of friendship for readers of any age who can appreciate the challenges of everyday life.” —Library Media Connection

From the Publisher

Dane's anger management issues (he blows off steam beating up the rich kids who taunt him at his Columbia, Mo., high school) have caught up with him; to avoid expulsion and exile to the alternative school, he agrees to mentor Billy D., a student with Down syndrome. Both are outsiders, sons of financially challenged, single mothers. Billy is obsessed with finding his dad, but Dane tells himself he has no interest in finding his. Billy manipulates Dane into helping, saying his dad planted clues to his whereabouts in Billy's atlas. Soon Seely, a pretty skateboarder, joins the quest. Dane agrees to teach Billy to fight, but Billy's efforts to find his father go nowhere. Billy's exceptionally high-functioning, but he's selfish; Dane's adult intelligence and self-knowledge work against him. As he's not confused about what pushes his buttons, his violent episodes appear coldly deliberate. Far-fetched plot elements abound. Dane's mother barely supports them teaching yoga and Pilates yet won't cash in thousands of dollars in lottery winnings, instead turning the tickets into wall art. Despite ample evidence that Billy's less than truthful, Dane repeatedly jeopardizes his own future to accommodate Billy's peculiar demands and assertions without first confirming them. Lange's skillful writing holds readers' interest for most of the novel, but it can't rescue the flat ending. There's less here than meets the eye. (Fiction. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews

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