It's
Up To Charlie Hardin
Dean
Ing
Baen,
Feb 3 2015, $16.99
ISBN:
9781476780306
During WWII in Austin, with school out for summer, the parents of
twelve year old Charlie Hardin admonish him to stay out of trouble. “Captain” Charlie,
his dog Lint and his best human friend Aaron Fischer fight Nazis though their
older adversary Jackie Rhett would adamantly disagree as to who the American is
and who the Axis is. Charlie and Aaron
agree that Jackie is a momzer though the Captain has no idea what the Yiddish
word means.
Charlie and Aaron get into an egg war with Ray
Kinney and Jackie, but an innocent bystander Felice Gutierrez gets hit; so all
the boys are in trouble. When a nasty
neighbor threatens Lint, Charlie creates a pumpkin slingshot to keep his BFF
safe. After dispatching the ghost in the
pipe, their adventures leads Charlie and Aaron to a Nazi counterfeiting
operation and a search for missing enemy Jackie. All this and more occur in Texas in the
summer of 1942.
Targeting tweeners, WWII (on the home front) readers and Mark
Twain fans, this droll homage to Tom Sawyer is an amusing look at life in 1940s
Austin through the eyes of a young boy.
Consisting of a series of short adventures, readers will appreciate the
escapades of Charlie and company though the protagonist’s relating them to the
audience at times makes the exploits seem passive.
Harriet Klausner
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