Watch Me

by Norah McClintock

At first Kaz intends to help the old lady who's fallen in the park. But then he starts thinking about how he never gets what he wants. The next thing he knows, he's running away with her purse. The purse contains only five dollars and a battered watch. When Kaz learns who the old woman is and where the watch came from, he begins to understand consequences in a new way.

Genres: Teen

94 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Norah McClintock’s fascinating mysteries are hard to put down. Her Chloe & Levesque series, Mike & Riel series, and Robyn Hunter series, all published by Scholastic Canada, have been popular with readers in many countries. Norah has also written several crime novels for reluctant readers in the Orca Soundings series from Orca Book Publishers,

Norah is a five-time winner of the Crime Writers of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award for Best Juvenile Crime Novel. Read Mistaken Identity, The Body in the Basement, Sins of the Father, Scared to Death, and Break and Enter to find out why! Norah's books have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and she has won numerous awards.

Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award - Juvenile
o 1996 – Mistaken Identity – Winner
o 1998 – The Body in the Basement – Winner
o 1999 – Sins of the Father – Winner
o 2002 – Scared to Death – Winner
o 2003 – Break and Enter – Winner

Red Maple Award
o 2004 – Hit and Run – Winner

Reviews

[Amanda Skinner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was okay. Not one of my favorites so far in the 'orca currents' series. I did like that McClintock shares in the end where she got the inspiration for the story. I like the behind-the-scenes stories from authors. I find it very interesting to hear where people get their ideas.

[L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kaz only has one friend, Drew.  Everyone else makes fun of him because he has scars on his face and he is dumb.  His scars are from saving his dad from a house fire and he is not dumb, he has dyslexia which makes learning harder for him.  Kaz also does not get along with his mom's boyfriend, as he is always on Kaz about his school work and getting back to playing hockey.  Kaz just wants to move out and go live with his father.  These are not the only problems Kaz has.  One day he and Drew are playing frisbee in a park when the frisbee hits an old woman in the head and she falls down. Kaz was initially going to help her but instead he takes her purse and runs off.  Drew follows him.  The purse only contains $5, some ids, and an old rusty watch.  The purse ends up in a dumpster and the watch at a pawn shop but eventually both items make it back to the old lady.  The question is how?  You must read the book to find out.

[Bailee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing book, but I wish it could have talked about his scars a little bit more. I also want to know why his father left. Fathers don't leave without a reason, was it because Kaz saved him or he just couldn't look at his son's burn scars.

[Suzanne Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick little read I picked up for the don’t come to book club book club. I rolled a 9 which put me in the young adult section and I had to pick a book with a purple binding so here we are. Not my normal read but it was decent lesson learned at the end.

[Luke Chaplain · Rating 4 out of 5]

McClintock manages to capture a feeling that numerous young kids have in the process of maturing. Making a major mistake that causes other pain feels terrible but being honest and apologizing is key in recovering. In this story just that happens to Kaz and he is hesitant at first about what to do as almost all people are. This book almost felt like a mystery because you couldn't always tell what was coming next. Overall I think this is a great quick read about a very relatable experience especially for ages 8-30. Golden Line: "Neil is my mom's boyfriend. He's an accountant, plus he coaches hockey. I hated that he lived with us" (McClintock 2). This is the most common plot point whenever divorced parents are involved in a story in my opinion. The kid(s) always seem to make an enemy with their parent's new love interest no matter how reasonable they are.

[Kirito · Rating 3 out of 5]

Norah McClintock's Watch Me by Norah McClintock is a book for kids. This book talks about 2 teens who're Drew and Kaz who were just playing frisbee and accidentally hit an old lady. What makes matter worse is that Drew took the old lady's bag. Will the old lady be safe and will Kaz get out of this affair?

I picked up this book because I was bored.

I finished this book because I wanted to read the whole book.

I think I would recommend this to Rachel because she likes Teen books.

[Jacob S · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very good. It's nice how he got the watch back and gave it back. Cause he made a mistake and he felt bad. So he gave up his video games to get it back. So I thought the author made it very good with describing the book. It was easy to make a picture in your head. Also how we dint like his step dad but got through times and hung out with friends. Made his life good for home self.

[Rhianna Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing. Full of suspense too