Dodger Boy

by Sarah Ellis

Overview

From award-winning author Sarah Ellis comes the story of an American draft dodger who turns up to stay with thirteen-year-old Charlotte and her family.

In 1970 Vancouver, thirteen-year-old Charlotte and her best friend, Dawn, are keen to avoid the pitfalls of adolescence. Couldn’t they just skip teenhood altogether, along with its annoying behaviors—showing off just because you have a boyfriend, obsessing about marriage and a ring and matching dining-room furniture? Couldn’t one just learn about life from Jane Austen and spend the days eating breakfast at noon, watching “People in Conflict,” and thrift-store shopping for cool castoffs to tie-dye for the upcoming outdoor hippie music festival?

But life becomes more complicated when the girls meet a Texan draft dodger who comes to live with Charlotte’s Quaker family. Tom Ed expands Charlotte’s horizons as they discuss everything from war to civil disobedience to women’s liberation. Grappling with exhilarating and disturbing new ideas, faced with a censorship challenge to her beloved English teacher and trying to decode the charismatic draft dodger himself, Charlotte finds it harder and harder to stick to her unteen philosophy, and to see eye to eye with Dawn.

Key Text Features
historical context

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3
Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6
Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781773060736
Publisher:	Groundwood Books Ltd
Publication date:	09/01/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
File size:	561 KB
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

SARAH ELLIS is a celebrated author, teacher and children’s literature expert. She has written more than twenty books across the genres, and her books have been translated into French, Spanish, Danish, Chinese and Japanese. She has won the Governor General’s Literary Award (Pick-Up Sticks) and the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award (Odd Man Out). Sarah is a masthead reviewer for the Horn Book Magazine, and she is a former faculty member of Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Read an Excerpt

At that moment Dawn came back. She was with a boy who was just about as opposite from the be-in as you could imagine, a kind of anti-matter of hippie. He had very short, tidy hair shaved up the sides of his head, and he was dressed in crisp jeans and a white T-shirt. He was so clean that he seemed to have a little halo around him. How was he staying so clean?

The second he arrived at the blanket, the sun peeped out.

“This is Tom Ed,” said Dawn. “He’s from Texas. He’s a draft dodger.”

Later, when Charlotte saw those T-shirts that declared, Today is the first day of the rest of your life, she thought of that moment.

The damp blanket, her muddy toes, the music in her pores, the hippie-sweet air, and the tall, bright-faced Texan.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for Dodger Boy:

"Scintillating prose, rich dialogue, and charming characterizations mark a novel that straddles the boundary between middle-grade and YA. . . . [W]hipsmart . . . " — Kirkus, STARRED REVIEW

". . . [Charlotte] proves to be a deeply introspective and likable protagonist, offering up insights that cut right to the heart of the coming-of-age experience. . . . A unique piece of historical fiction that packs a punch." —School Library Journal

Praise for Pick-up Sticks, winner, Governor General’s Award


“… the kind of unique, well-rounded personalities readers expect from this fine Canadian author.” — Kirkus, starred review

Praise for Out of the Blue, finalist, Governor General’s Award


“Ellis creates well-developed characters, not only believable but wholly likable; her deft use of wit is delightful.” — Kirkus

Praise For The Several Lives of Orphan Jack, finalist, Governor General’s Award


“Ellis has created a small gem here, with messages about following your heart tucked into the sentences, phrases, thoughts, and ideas that she seamlessly weaves together.” — Booklist

For Outside In


* “Appealing and provocative, this challenges readers to assess their own lives, bringing up compelling issues as wide-ranging as the ills of consumerism and the obligations of friendship.” — Booklist, starred review



* “More than a thoughtful ode to found family, this slim, sweet novel challenges readers to look anew at the ones they have.” — Kirkus, starred review



“Ellis is simultaneously a knotty and substantive writer and one with a light, conversational style …”— Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Editorial Reviews

[Sarah] Ellis introduces the evils of book banning and the importance of believing in yourself and standing up for your own identity.

Winnipeg Free Press

Ellis’s draft dodger novel is crisp, funny, smart and wonderfully well put together – an example of all that writing for the young can be.

Toronto Star

09/01/2018
Gr 6–9—Charlotte and her best friend Dawn are newly minted 13-year-olds coping with teen angst in 1970 Vancouver. They form a pact to be as "unteen" as possible—no giggling, no whining, and, most importantly, no being silly about boys. This is easier for bookish Charlotte, who draws daily inspiration from Jane Austen, than for Dawn, who comes home from music camp with a new hairdo and new attitude. Things are complicated by the arrival of Tom Ed, a draft-dodging 18-year-old with a winsome Texas drawl. Tom takes up residence with Charlotte's Quaker family, and, as Dawn descends further into "un-unteen" behavior over the charming new boy, her friendship with Charlotte becomes increasingly strained. As Charlotte navigates a fluctuant world full of obstacles, including censorship challenges at school, discussions of pacifism and women's liberation with Tom that rock her worldview, and discoveries about the nature of Tom's relationship with her older brother James, she proves to be a deeply introspective and likable protagonist, offering up insights that cut right to the heart of the coming-of-age experience. Charlotte's deteriorating relationship with Dawn is a realistic depiction of a struggling friendship. Some of the attitudes and language employed when discussing the LGBTQ+ community are presented as insensitive and problematic. VERDICT A unique piece of historical fiction that packs a punch. Purchase where historical fiction circulates well, as well as where there is an interest in Canada.—Darla Salva Cruz, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY

School Library Journal