Streaks of Blue by Jack Chaucer - OPTIONAL

Chaucer, Jack Streaks of Blue, 260 p. Amazon Digital Services, 2013.  $12.  Language: R (100 swears and 16 ‘f’); Mature Content: PG (some partying, some drug use); Violence: PG (gun shots and blood).  

Nicole, 17, is excited about the beginning of her senior year of high school.  An avid hiker, she spends a night outside above the tree line, and a vision tells her of a danger coming to her school – a boy she used to know is involved in a plot to hurt many students at her school – more than Columbine or Newtown.  Adam is a boy who Nikki used to know, but over the years he has become hard, distant and angry and keeps company with Thomas “Lee” Harvey, who has nicknamed himself after the man who shot JFK.  Lee can paint the air blue with his hatred and vitriol for everyone around him and he doesn’t care who gets in his way – a gun is the best way to take them out.  And if he goes down, how many can he take with him?  Nikki doesn’t really want to get involved, but finds herself reaching out to Adam anyway, to the dismay of her best friend and her extended social group, sometimes with success, other times with disastrous results.  But the time is short, if the vision can be believed.  The question of who dies may come down to the few or the many.  

I certainly was engrossed as I read about Nikki.  While the device of a vision seems a little hokey, it certainly introduced the drama and got the story rolling quickly.  Adam and Lee’s anger is portrayed through the copious amounts of swearing and derision that pour from their mouths.   Chaucer manages to combine a lot of food for thought within these pages – how to prevent, stop and deal with bullies is a conundrum faced by every student at every school around the world.  

HS – OPTIONAL (check swear count first).  Cindy, Library Teacher