BOOK: The wild kid by Mazer

[Frederick Muller <fmuller@TELLURIAN.NET>]

Mazer, Harry._The wild kid_,1998 [0-689-80751-1]
Mildly retarded Sammy has someone steal his bike.  In the
process of chasing the thief, he gets lost in the woods and
stumbles upon a runaway boy who has been living in the woods for
a while.  This runaway, Kevin, holds Sammy captive for a while but
soon they become friends.  Sammy tries on convince Kevin to
come back home with him.  Eventually Sammy gets away and
while climbing on a cliff, gets stuck and Kevin finds him and gets
help -- Kevin disappears.  Sammy goes home after 13 days  and
the 103 page book ends with Sammy waiting for Kevin to show up
at his house.  What I particularly liked about this book is that the
story is told by Sammy with his limited reasoning and thoughts.  I
am not aware of another such book and it intrigues me after 13
years as a special education teacher.  There are two slight errors
in the book you may want to be aware of.  First, Sammy is called
"Down's" where the current term is now Down Syndrome.
Secondly, the CIP has a subject heading of "Feral Children."  Kevin
is a runaway, not feral.  These two things do not take away the
significance of this book.

***************
Frederick Muller
Halsted Middle School Library
59 Halsted Street
Newton, NJ   07860
   voice (973) 383-7440 ext 228
   FAX (973) 383-7432
My book reviews are compiled at:
  htt://www.halsted.org/br.htm
My personal web site is:
  htt://users.tellurian.net/fmuller

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