The Keeper
Author: Rosanne Hawke
Format: 160 pp book
ISBN: 0734400683
Publisher: Lothian Books 2000
Audience: Student resource
Price: $15.99
Joel is in trouble. Everyone picks on him and no one wants him, except his Gran. Plus, since his dad is long gone, he never gets to go in the father-son fishing competition. Until he has a brainwave and secretly puts an ad in the paper for a dad.
The results are totally unexpected, and Joel is in for the time of his life!
Also available as a set of 4 copies, or as part of the Reading Enriches Learning Identity collection.
Bendigo Advertiser
TAKEAWAYS is a new series by Lothian for early teenage readers.
It is a very interesting collection with new titles alongside re-issued classics like Blue Fin by Colin Thiele.
These three new titles all look at kids’ perceptions of their families during the early teen years, as told directly by them.
IN each case there is some humour, some tragedy and a lot of growing up involved.
The Keeper is the most serious of the three.Joel lives with his Gran in a small fishing town in South Australia.He has major behaviour problems at school and desperately wants a Dad so he can feel that he fits in.So he advertises for one in the paper and meets Dev, a biker just out of gaol.Through him, Joel learns some daunting lessons about his own history, about trust and loyalty, and about facing problems.
The story is very immediate, told through Joel’s thoughts. His gradual growth of understanding though some very challenging episodes keeps the excitement high. The Keeper is a very good study of a troubled boy.
