Strays

Don't forget about our Twelfth Night Celebration this coming Monday.

Strays
by Ron Koertge
YA fiction. 167 pp.
Candlewick. 2007.

flap copy:

"So where are you staying?" the dog asks.
"With some people who take care of strays."
"Like the pound?"
"Kind of."

Sixteen-year-old Ted O'Connor's parents just died in a fiery car crash, and now he's stuck with a set of semi-psycho foster parents, two foster brothers—Astin, the cocky gearhead, and C.W., the sometimes-gangsta—and an inner-city high school full of delinquents sure to eat him alive. He's having pretty much the worst year of his miserable life. Or so he thinks.

Completed June 21.

At this point, I remember rather little about this book. (This will also be the case for the next four reviews. But I must get these reviews posted so that I can finish my year-end post.) I picked it up because the premise—lonely boy talks to dogs—seemed rather intriguing. And I've enjoyed Koertge in the past. In the end, I enjoyed this book as well. At least that's the impression I have. There was nothing stellar to make it stand out, but it was a good book about learning to find your place in a new pack.