Genre: Y/A age 12 and up
Author: Colin Bateman
Publisher: Delacorte Press
ISBN: 0385732449

The following review was contributed by: Molly Martin & CLICK TO VIEW  Molly Martin's Reviews

The narrative opens with an explanation that Eddie's dad was killed by
dragons, no actually he was killed in a submarine accident, well no . and
after several more explanations we learn that Eddie's dad is not dead at
all. Eddie is dismayed to learn that the life he has enjoyed is ending, his
parents are divorcing, he and his mother will be moving to the city where
his mother begins to work as a nurse in the Royal Victoria Maternity
Hospital. To say that Eddie is less than enchanted would be mild. Before
long Eddie meets a group of boys who spatter cars with mud then offer the
owners a special rate for washing the cars. When Eddie runs into the same
group of chancers at the hospital where his mother works things really begin
to get interesting. The Reservoir Pups are as crafty a group of street boys
as you might meet. A leg-less boy named Captain Black, a hospital security
guard named Scuttles, a new man in his mother's life, Alison Beech, a bold
kidnapping scheme, a body washer down in the morgue, the Andytown Albinos, a
near miss, a desperate plan and a bitter truth all play a part in this fast
paced work.

Irish writer Colin Bateman presents an exhilarative, spine tingling work
filled with all the zestful agitation, whimsical cast of characters and
explosive tension necessary to hold the target audience absorbed from
beginning paragraph to ending lines. Eddie & the Gang with No Name: Running
with the Reservoir Pups is a well-written publication filled with generously
drawn players and a cleverly interwoven, precarious story line. Snappy
dialogue, potent and at times astonishing scenarios are presented with
drollery and smartness. Writer Bateman has captured the fun and excitement
of the age in his often awkward hero Eddie. Eddie is so typical a boy that
he seems real.

Eddie's reasonable, predictable hurt and distraction following his parents'
divorce, and his learning to confront with and make sense of his feelings
are presented in a believable manner. From his mother's beginning to form
new relationships and Eddie's own need to carve out a new life for himself
Bateman presents each new theme in manner that kids in the target audience
can understand. The struggle Eddie faces in having is whole life disrupted
is something kids facing the same situation can identify with, and chuckle
along with Eddie as he struggles to make sense of things he cannot control.

Good book for the school, home school, and home library. The work will fit
as nicely in a unit on facing life as it will for pleasure reading.
Therapists will find use for the book in helping youthful clients who may be
facing many of the situations as is Eddie following a divorce and the need
to move and leave behind the comfortable life they have known. Parental
affair, divorce and the need for finding friends and learning a whole new
set of rules and discipline for life are presented in easily read fashion.

The setting for the book is England, and some of the language used will have
an English flavor which kids will find intriguing.


Enjoyed the read, happy to recommend.