Pike: A Novel

by Anthony McGowan

Overview

The second book in 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.

When Kenny and Nicky spot a glint of gold in the murky waters of Bacon Pond, they can’t leave it alone. It means money, and money helps patch things up when you haven’t got any. But sometimes it’s better not to look too deep. Not when there are local gangsters involved, and tough questions about your own family’s past. But Nicky can’t help looking back. He knows it’s a bad idea, and it could ruin everything. Can he save himself and his family, or will the secrets of the lake take them all down?

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:	9781454954798
Publisher:	Union Square & Co.
Publication date:	04/02/2024
Series:	Everyone Can Be a Reader Series
Edition description:	High readability
Pages:	136
Sales rank:	105,980
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

[An] engaging, concise, and accessibly written novel . . . . Equal parts horror and hilarity in a rousing aquatic escapade.”—Kirkus

From the Publisher

2024-01-05
Nicky is shocked by something he glimpses in a local pond in this stand-alone follow-up to Brock (2024).

Their dad has a job and a likable new girlfriend, so things are looking up for Kenny, who sustained brain damage at birth, and his fiercely protective younger brother, Nicky. But when the boys go on a fishing expedition to a deep pond near a former meat pie factory, they spot a gold Rolex watch on what looks like an arm floating underwater. Nicky’s aware of how much the money would help the family if only he could recover and sell it. Unfortunately, he also regularly regales his credulous but delighted brother with gruesomely explicit tales of toothy pike that are capable of snatching certain precious body parts away from unwary skinny-dippers, which makes swimming out to investigate sound like a scary proposition even to himself. McGowan adds both a creepy, hooded stranger and a recently vanished local gangster (famous for his flashy Rolex) to the mix and dishes up a pair of wild nocturnal expeditions for the close-knit siblings. Everything culminates in a near-drowning, a successful retrieval of the watch, and (thankfully) a corpse-free explanation for its presence. Better yet, the boys’ father announces that he’s tracked down contact information for their long-departed mother, further lifting the buoyant ending of this engaging, concise, and accessibly written novel. The English cast largely reads white.

Equal parts horror and hilarity in a rousing aquatic escapade. (Fiction. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews