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296 pp.
| Scholastic/Chicken House
| March, 2014
|
TradeISBN 978-0-545-55699-6$17.99
|
EbookISBN 978-0-545-55700-9
(2)
YA
Death is the latest drug to take England by storm. You take it, have the best week of your life, then die. Adam's brother dies; he ruins things with his rich girlfriend, Lizzie; and in a moment of weakness, he takes Death. Burgess is in fine form here: entertaining, provocative, vulgar, clever, and amoral. A gripping thriller with some food for thought.
Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
March, 2014
405 pp.
| Holt
| December, 2010
|
TradeISBN 978-0-8050-9203-5$17.99
(2)
YA
Fourteen-year-old Nicholas Dane arrives at a school for wayward boys after his mother dies of a heroin overdose. A drugged-up headmaster, a pedophilic deputy head, a staff of sadistic monsters, and their tormented orphan prey make Nick's new home a living hell. Readers familiar with Nicholas Nickleby and Oliver Twist will find parallels here that will deepen their appreciation for Burgess's novel.
Reviewer: Dean Schneider
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
January, 2011
264 pp.
| Simon
| May, 2007
|
TradeISBN 978-1-4169-3617-6$16.99
(3)
YA
Seventeen-year-old Sara is talented but emotionally unstable. Her relationship with a famously metamorphic aging rock star turns sinister when the price of his friendship is revealed. Told in documentary form, the taut, chilling story explores the intersection of beauty, cosmetic surgery, celebrity, and criminality. The unreliability of the novel's various characters enhances Burgess's exploration of truth, perception, and manipulation.
327 pp.
| Holt
| June, 2004
|
TradeISBN 0-8050-7565-8$$15.95
(3)
YA
Each of three high school protagonists has a different kind of love trouble. While shifting perspectives make for a rather static novel, Burgess's understanding of male sexuality, emergent and otherwise, is completely authentic, often touching, and ruefully hilarious. Didacticism occasionally rears its ugly head, but no one will mistake this raunchy tale for a lesson in sensitivity.
Reviewer: Roger Sutton
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
July, 2004
164 pp.
| Holt
| April, 2003
|
TradeISBN 0-8050-7149-0$$16.95
(4)
4-6
Crawling through the ventilation shafts of his apartment building, twelve-year-old David encounters the ghost of a boy, who encourages him to harass elderly Mr. Alveston. After being caught and punished, David becomes friends with Mr. Alveston and helps figure out the identity of the ghost. Though the plot is choppy, the supernatural aspects of the story will engage readers.
182 pp.
| Farrar
| April, 2000
|
TradeISBN 0-374-34228-8$$16.00
(3)
4-6
In an effort to rid his property of all "vermin," Mr. Harris orders his gamekeeper to destroy the eggs of a rare red kite. But the gamekeeper's son rescues an egg, raises and releases the bird of prey, and tries to prevent Mr. Harris and his father from killing it. Set in 1964 England, the absorbing novel contains an author's note and afterword about red kites and about gamekeeping.
104 pp.
| Holt
| May, 2000
|
TradeISBN 0-8050-6381-1$$15.95
(1)
4-6
Illustrated by
Richard Williams.
This gritty picture of childhood in Victorian London tells of three boys who are "mudlarks," those who search the banks of the Thames for salvageable items to sell for food and other necessities. The boys see a huge roll of sheet copper fall into the river--an immeasurable treasure--and retrieving it becomes the principal catalyst for the story. The pace is masterful, and humorous moments are blended with poignant ones. Glos.
Reviewer: Mary M. Burns
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
July, 2000
327 pp.
| Holt
| January, 1998
|
TradeISBN 0-8050-5801-X
(4)
YA
Fourteen-year-old runaways Gemma and Tar become heroin addicts in this award-winning novel, published in Britain as 'Junk'. Establishing the 1980s Bristol setting--squatters, anarchists, punks--takes precedence over the story for too long, and 'Go Ask Alice' junkies looking for a quick fix won't stick it out long enough. Disappointingly, 'Smack' fails to score a hit.