Books for gifted children from Royal Fireworks Press, publishers for the gifted education curriculum.

Brinker's Edge

Novel

Class sets of 20 or more: $7.00 each. (Order Code: 1439S) Add to Cart

Fourteen-year-old Brinker Adams, the narrator, is fatherless, sometimes shallow, sarcastic, usually honest and likable. He is a character adolescents will strongly identify with. Barnesville, the town where he and his moth­er now live has character too—old and quiet and peaceful on the surface, but like the barn behind Brinker’s house, the town can both delight and devour. Murray is twelve and still clueless, a sidekick and source of humor. Betsy is fourteen, full of life, independent, a survivor of her mother’s alcoholism and later of her abandonment. Brinker sees most of the adults as stereo­types, except Gary, his mother’s live-in boyfriend who develops in Brinker’s eyes from a wimp to a role model a perceiver, a victor, a strong, witty man-child.

Adolescence in Brinker’s Edge is not a problem to be resolved. Rather, it is an emotional roller-coaster of related episodes. During the summer Brinker loses his old family along with his illusions of innocence and permanence—and of powerlessness. He finds bonds stronger than the passing of time. He discovers that he must keep moving forward. The basic metaphor is a tightrope, the edge, and the glue of the plot is the struggle to maintain equilibrium.

Author, John Kuehn is a seasoned English teacher, an Ohio Writing Project Graduate Fellow, and regular contributor to local newspapers and major textbooks. His novel is written for both troubled and untroubled kids to relate to and enjoy without even trying.

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