The Wrecker - Hardcover

Skinner, David

3.57

30 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671797719 ISBN 13: 9780671797713

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 1995

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Hoping to render harmless a bullying classmate, Theo enlists the help of Michael, a new boy in school, to help him build a personalized wrecking machine from spare parts that they find at the junkyard.

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From Publishers Weekly:

As much a parody of school life as a tale of vengeance, this brains-vs.-brawn contest stars Theo Vee, eighth grade genius/inventor extraordinaire and his reluctant sidekick, Michael. A newcomer to the Sherman School, Michael is more unsettled than flattered when Theo, the creator of dancing boxes, talking wheels and mechanical spiders, chooses him as an ally when dreaming up a plot to utterly "wreck" the class bully. From the very beginning, it is obvious that the bully's days are numbered, but few will be able to guess the means and result of his destruction. As extravagant caricatures of classic types, the teachers at Sherman School-jelly-spined Mr. Shoe; Mrs. Gasperwit, who "just lived for the theater"; Mrs. Stencil, the art teacher-add color to the comic suspense. Although the story's pace is periodically disrupted by vignettes about minor characters, Skinner (You Must Kill a Whale) delivers enough action and guffaws to keep the pages turning. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

Gr. 6^-9. William Tecumseh Sherman Middle School is the appropriately named scene of a war, a silent but devastating one. Jeffrey Pratt is a bully; Theo is a genius and loner; and Michael, the narrator, is new to the school. The plot is not a predictable ramble toward a warm and fuzzy resolution. Michael is not a transparent narrator, and his story, revealed as he watches and helps Theo plan revenge, is as compelling as Theo's. Even the teachers depicted are complex characters. With elements reminiscent of Robert Cormier and Stephen King, the book will certainly attract teen readers, and it may also spark some thoughtful discussion in the classroom. Because Skinner's narrator sometimes hesitates and is not always able to figure things out, readers have an opportunity to think for themselves--about what Theo does, and why, and how Jeffrey is affected. Mary Harris Veeder

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