What We’re Reading

Saint Iggy | K.L. Going

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Iggy Corso is misunderstood. His mother is prone to disappear, his father is always drunk, their dealer is frequently banging down the door, and he just sees things differently than other people. Like the incident in Spanish class with the new girl. But if he wants to make his case, he’ll have to wait for his hearing. In the meantime, he plans to make a plan. A big one. To change people’s mind about him.

Instead, he ends up falling into a drug-deal gone bad, being taken in by a friend’s wealthy mother, and realizing that Public School probably isn’t the right place for him after all. So maybe his grand plan isn’t going to happen…but that doesn’t mean he can’t still do a really big thing.

Saint Iggy | K.L. Going

Living in the projects with a drugged-out dad and a mom who’s never there, Iggy Corso has had a tough life. So when he’s kicked out of school for a misunderstanding, Iggy decides that he’s going to do something good–something so good that it makes the papers and everyone will welcome him back and see what a great person he is. Iggy sets out with his friend Mo–a wealthy older boy who has “denounced” his wealth and lives in squalor–to help him find his good deed. Mo has gotten in some trouble with Freddie, the same drug dealer who supplies to Iggy’s parents. Mo owes Freddie a large amount money for some drugs, and he goes back to his affluent neighborhood to ask his mom for money, and brings Iggy along. Mo’s mom tries to help Iggy, and there he gets more ideas about his potential heroic act.

When Iggy finally formalizes a plan to carry out his good deed, everything becomes chaotic and confusing, up to the final shocking scene that ends the novel.

Poignant and moving, Saint Iggy is a gripping tale of a boy who can’t get a break, no matter what he does. Reading this book will put its reader through the entire gamut of strong emotions: anger, sadness, anticipation and fear. A book that everyone should read, Saint Iggy will give its reader something to think and talk about long after they’ve finished the novel. These are characters that won’t let you go–and you won’t want to let them go yourself.

Candy | Kevin Brooks

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Joe Beck’s life is pretty run-of-the-mill. Parents separated, doesn’t get on so well with his father, goes to school, plays with a band, tries to stay out of trouble. And then he meets Candy.

Something about her draws him right in. He can’t believe she’s talking to him. That he could be so lucky. And when he gets chased off by a very large and very scary Iggy, who can only be her Pimp, he can’t believe that either. He mulls it over for a week, after finding her number in his pocket, then calls to ask her out, knowing it’s the only thing to do.

At the Zoo she seems so normal. She explains Iggy away as some guy who’s just a little crazy. Joe wants to believe it, so he does. When she leaves him in the cafe to go to the bathroom and comes back changed, he understands she must use drugs, but he doesn’t give that much thought either. She likes him. He likes her.

But when she comes to his Band’s show only to be dragged off by Iggy and his hoarde, a fight which gets Joe’s brother-in-law to be injured, things come to a head. With nowhere left to turn, he finally tells his sister everything. Unable to believe there’s nothing he can do to help, and unable to get Candy on the phone, as soon as his dad’s left for his business trip, Joe takes off, losing all cares about being grounded.

He takes a train back to the spot where he first stumbled into her. Nothing. He wanders around London, trying to find somewhere within 10 minutes that could be the spot where she lives. If that part was true. Ready to admit defeat, he’s heading back to catch another train when he spots Iggy leaving the station, and gets it in his head to follow him.

After being led to the house, he hides in the bushes for quite awhile, making his move when an elderly woman loaded down with shopping bags arrives. He helps her carry them in, then takes off up the stairs to find Candy. And find her he does–severely battered and bruised. Broken, she tells him everything. How she came to be here, how it went so far. They’re concocting a plan to get her out of there when Iggy returns. There’s no saying if Joe could have stayed hidden in the bathroom if his cell phone hadn’t rung. But it did. And things very suddenly became life or death.

With a straight-edge razor held to his throat, Joe is staring at the end, when Candy breaks a lamp against Iggy’s head. They quickly bind him up with tape, and take off into the night. They stop at Joe’s house for supplies, then board another train, heading for the summer cottage. The plan is to get Candy clean, then take it from there. Iggy won’t find them. He’s sure of it, despite a nagging at the back of his brain.

But just when the worst of it seems over, when Candy seems to be herself again, and not a withdrawl insane version, Joe realizes just what kind of trouble he’s in. Iggy has his sister. He can find them, because Joe tells him exactly where they are. Any bargaining power he had has gone. Even with Mike on the way to help, there’s no knowing if he’ll beat Iggy to them, or what they can do even if he does.

In the end, it turns out in a way no one would have imagined.

Time goes by, but Joe can’t remember how life was before Candy. All he can do is struggle to find his way back to it.

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