Dodger Boy

by Sarah Ellis

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 Featureshistorical context

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3Describe 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.6.4Determine 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.6.6Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, LGBT, Fiction, Canada, Friendship, Young Adult

176 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2018

About the author

Writer, columnist, and librarian Sarah Ellis has become one of the best-known authors for young adults in her native Canada with titles such as The Baby Project, Pick-Up Sticks, and Back of Beyond: Stories of the Supernatural. In addition to young adult novels, Ellis has also written for younger children and has authored several books about the craft of writing. Praised by Booklist contributor Hazel Rochman as "one of the best children's literature critics," Ellis "writes without condescension or pedantry. . . . Her prose is a delight: plain, witty, practical, wise."

Ellis was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 1952, the youngest of three children in her family. As she once noted, "[My] joy in embroidering the truth probably comes from my own childhood. My father was a rich mine of anecdotes and jokes. He knew more variations on the 'once there were three men in a rowboat' joke than anyone I've encountered since.

Reviews

[Jasmine from How Useful It Is · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading Dodger Boy on 9/4/18 and finished it on 9/8/18. This book is an excellent read! I like Dawn’s shopping skills. The Unteen Pact is interesting. Charlotte has a cool English teacher, Miss O.O. It’s my first read where a story takes place in Vancouver, Canada. Despite this book being for middle grade, I’m learning something new I don’t know before. I love reading about Tom Ed being a draft dodger for the Vietnam war. I love Charlotte’s family and their hospitality. All of the characters are interesting to read.

This book is told in the third person point of view following Charlotte as she and her friend Dawn, both 13, evaluate Romeo and Juliet’s movie using their Unteen Pact’s formula. They created the Unteen Pact so that they could refuse to become teenagers who behave bizarrely for boys. They attended a hippie party together and met an American draft dodger named Tom Ed. It was during the time when the war was happening in Vietnam and American soldiers were drafted to serve. Tom Ed went through great lengths to avoid being drafted. He might not ever get to go home again.

Dodger Boy is very well written and easy to read. It brought back history to readers about some Americans who escaped to Canada to evade being drafted for war. I don’t remember learning this part of history in high school so I love how informative this book is. I like how the class come together to outsmart the English substitute teacher. I like how good of a big brother James is to Charlotte with the mouse. I’m surprised for the twist on James! That was most unexpected. Charlotte is a great character to read about. I highly recommend everyone to read this book!

Pro: fast paced, page turner, friendship, draft dodger, Americans in Canada, family

Con: none

I rate it 5 stars!

***Disclaimer: Many thanks to Groundwood Books for the opportunity to read and review. Please be assured that my opinions are honest.

xoxo,
Jasmine at www.howusefulitis.wordpress.com for more details

[Tom Malinowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a surprising find! Thirteen year olds Charlotte and Dawn decide to go to an event, most likely it'll be about peace and nature and war as it's 1970 in Vancouver. There they meet 19 year old Tom Ed. He enters their lives as a draft dodger, a peacekeeper, and lover of knowledge. The girls' friendship is tested as they don't want to be teenagers, but Tom Ed is a force to be reckoned with.

This books deals with just about everything in a short amount of time but handled superbly - friendship, politics, love, sexuality, censorship. The subplot on censorship is phenomenal!

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

There aren't a lot of books covering the Vietnam War era from the perspective of Canadians, particularly two thirteen-year-old girls. in this particular book, set in 1970 Vancouver, best friends Charlotte and Dawn long to be cooler than they actually are and are drawn to some of the regalia sported by the hippies of that era. When they meet Tom Ed, a Texan who stays briefly with Charlotte's family as he avoids the draft in the United States, their paths diverge on various issues. Charlotte develops a crush on Tom Ed, partly because he is so willing to spend time talking to her about important matters such as the war, courage and civil disobedience, and feminism, and partly because she's seeking connections. Of course, she misses all the signs that he is gay as is her brother James and misinterprets quite a lot of what's going on. All that she's learning changes her in many ways and prepares us to support her English teacher in an important censorship battle over The Catcher in the Rye and intellectual freedom. I especially liked how Charlotte developed as a character, and while the ending was a bit abrupt, I wondered what the rest of her life will turn out to be like. I have come to rely on this author to tackle hard topics or issues that others haven't explored very much. I would expect that many middle grade readers will find this one interesting, especially as it relates to their own development from an intellectual and emotional stance.

[Reagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book. It was filled with humor while hitting serious topics such as identity, sexuality, and even friendship. It was brief, I read it in a little less than 2 hours, but I really enjoyed it.

[Klyon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Canada, Vietnam, queer brother. Sometimes didn't feel the book held together but ended up being taken with the book. More sophisticated reader - 8th grade?

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book with my 14 and 11 year old. It had some really good parts involving the main character and the boy, Tom Ed, who is a draft dodger from Texas, and a great English teacher. Then there were parts that didn't seem to fit in the book. The first part of the book was so uninteresting to us, we would have possibly stopped reading if I hadn't read another review that mentioned this odd start to the book. We were torn on 2 or 3 stars.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.8 Stars A little slip of a coming-of-age story set in Vancouver circa 1970's--when our government was immersed in the Vietnamese War amid fierce and divisive protest at home...our young Charlotte shines as she begins to find her inner strength and purpose despite the yearning to never become a teenager.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific book - plusses:
Set in Vancouver
Narrator a 13-year-old girl who sounds like a 13-year-old.
Historical fiction - centered around a draft dodger from Texas
Great supporting characters

minuses
Worst Cover Ever -

do yourself a favor and don't judge this book by its cover.

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

😍 📚 💪

"Jane Austen tells the truth."

"Charlotte could feel Tom Ed already turning into a story, joining Lena and Frankie and Ludo and all the other guests who had come through their house. But she wasn't ready to tidy him away. He was more than a story."

[Linda Atkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great story! And, a book full of memorable characters from a decade I remember well that included my very own version of Mrs. Radger and her daughter over the book, A Separate Piece.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main character reminded me a lot of my daughter, but that's not the only reason I liked it. It was a nice snapshot of a specific time.