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Poor Charlie Fisher has crummy parents and dismal social skills. After a few years of shuffling between his glamorous mother and his ambassador father, he now lives with the latter in Marseille, France, completely friendless. His days are spent with a fairly bland tutor and he is compelled to attend political soirees with his father in the evenings. His only source of pleasure is the local market square, where he invents stories about the people he observes browsing the various stalls. One morning, his keen observational skills (and quick thinking) help a local streetwise youngster (and pickpocket) elude the authorities. This gives Charlie his first friend. Ever.
Of course, with a thief as a pal, life is no longer boring for young Charlie. They move about the entire city when together, and Charlie is dumbfounded by all he sees. He is determined to preserve his own innocence, but, ever so slowly and carefully, Charlie is led step by step into the underbelly of Marseille by his buddy’s gang of young sneaks. His father is so overjoyed that Charlie has found companionship that he does not pay too much attention to where is going, what he is doing, or any of that regular parental stuff. His son is happy, he is going out with other youngsters, so what could possibly be amiss? Of course, things do indeed go awry, and by the time Charlie discovers the truth, he finds that he has been hustled into a situation with dire consequences, and his only means of escape are the new skills that he has learned from his so-called partners.
This is one of those books that draws the reader in with barely believable characters and events and then gets the reader wondering why she or he cares about a bunch of little crooks. At just the moment you begin to think that maybe this isn’t such a great tale to be sharing with your children, it becomes clear that you have been hoodwinked just like Charlie was. Now, of course, you simply MUST finish it and see how everything is resolved.
I am in complete awe of the talent of Colin Meloy. The pacing of the plot is absolutely superb, the metamorphosis of shy and quiet Charlie into The Grenadine Kid is some of the best character development I have experienced in YA literature, and the values that are presented over the course of the story become great lessons without seeming preachy.
Rated: None.
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