SCOTTY AND THE GYPSY BANDIT

by David Winkler ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 27, 2000

Winkler’s debut for children is an offbeat, darkly humorous tale that takes a preteen from the death of his father to a healing round of Thanksgiving deliveries to local children’s shelters, with murder, romance, adolescent pranks, and plenty of growing up in between. Scotty narrates, but the plot revolves around both his mother’s recovery from grief, and his classmate Mick Stewart. Mick compensates for an abusive father and an alcoholic mother with a rich fantasy life in which he, as “The Gypsy Bandit,” performs deeds of derring-do with the help of imaginary friend Reese and reluctant but real friend, Scotty, dubbed “Durango.” Already a focus of attention at school because of the death in his family, Scotty becomes downright notorious when Mick disappears, leaving the brutal Mr. Stewart bludgeoned to death and buried in the backyard. While worrying about his friend, and being hard as can be on his mother once she begins seeing a local shoe store owner (who becomes much more intriguing stepfather-material after Scotty finds out that he used to be a circus clown), Scotty also finally breaks the ice with longtime crush, Lynette. A sudden impulse of his mother’s ends the story with a stitched-on but heartwarming set piece. Overall, it’s patchwork storytelling, but the tone is reminiscent of that found in Jack Gantos’s autobiographical novels (Jack on the Tracks, 1999, etc.), and the cast is enjoyably quirky. (Fiction. 11-14)

Pub Date: March 27, 2000

ISBN: 0-374-36420-6

Page Count: 208

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION