Defect

by Will Weaver

Overview

Maybe it was bad karma. Maybe it was just bad luck. Whatever the reason, fifteen-year-old David was born defective. His bug eyes, pinched face, and hearing aids are obvious, but there is a secret David keeps from everyone, even his foster parents. Because of a thin layer of skin hidden under each arm, David can fly—well, glide is more like it. Terrified of doctors, wary of letting down his guard, David is determined to hide his secret at any cost. But then David meets Cheetah, a girl whose own defect doesn't diminish her spirit, and suddenly his life begins to take wing.

In this arresting new novel, Will Weaver creates an unforgettable character on the path to discovering that some blessings can be a curse—and some curses a blessing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374317737
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	07/24/2007
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Author of Red Earth, White Earth and A Gravestone Made of Wheat, Will Weaver grew up in northern Minnesota on a dairy farm. The sometimes harsh and beautiful landscape of farm and small town life figures strongly in his writing. Sweet Land, an independent feature film adaptation of his story “Gravestone Made of Wheat”, and starring Ned Beatty, premiered in October of 2006.

Weaver is also known for his young adult fiction. His character Billy Baggs, a teenage farm boy baseball phenom, earned his way into the hearts of teen readers in the series Striking Out, Farm Team, and Hard Ball. Each novel has won numerous awards, including being named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. Memory Boy, a post-apocalyptic novel based on environmental collapse, is used across the curriculum in many junior and senior high schools.

Claws, a novel set in northeastern Minnesota (Duluth and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness) features outdoor survival with a strong family back story. Weaver’s Full Service won starred reviews (Kirkus Reviews and The Horn Book) for its focus on a young man struggling with matters of religious faith and doubt, all complicated by his first “real” summer job, at a gas station, where he “meets the public” in all its variety. Defect, a novel about a teenager born with a miraculous birth abnormality, highlights what one reviewer from The St. Paul Pioneer Press called “the humanity and decency that runs through all of Weaver’s work.”.

As an author, Mr. Weaver is particularly concerned with youth literacy and keeping kids reading. His new MOTOR series addresses a group of underserved young adult readers: kids who love cars. His new novel Saturday Night Dirt and its sequel, Super Stock Rookie, focus on dirt track stock car racing. The series starts with a close focus on a small town speedway and the cast of colorful characters who come there to race on Saturday nights. One of the characters, sixteen-year-old Trace Bonham, is a natural driver with dreams of racing professionally. The MOTOR series follows Trace’s on his path toward getting a “ride” (a sponsored race car) and competing at the highest level he can. While these auto racing novels will certainly appeal to boys, Weaver’s novels always contain a diverse cast of characters. Auto racing is one of the few sports that gives no gender advantage, and the MOTOR series also includes a positive and realistic portrayal of young women involved in racing.

Along with the MOTOR series of novels, Weaver has formed a stock car racing team with a teenaged driver. His black No. 16 Modified race car, co-sponsored by Farrar, Straus & Giroux publishers, is driven by Skyler Smith of Bemidji. Team Weaver races in the WISSOTA circuit in the upper Midwest.

An avid outdoorsman, Will Weaver lives with his wife on the Mississippi River in northern Minnesota.

Read an Excerpt

From Defect

The fight is going down tonight. By the time school lets out, word has spread. Even the Student Council types who have thrown the rare "Hey" David's way turn their backs on him.

"Just because you look weird, that's no reason why you have to act weird," kids whisper.

"If people like David just tried to fit in, they wouldn't have so much trouble."

"It's really not Kael's fault."

That would be Kael Grimes, David's main tormentor. David's ingrown hair. David's zit that never goes away. This is Minnesota, where people stare at anything new or different, but Kael has been watching him for eight months, six days, and about three hours. In other words, since David started high school here at Valley View High. Right now Kael and clowns are clustered twenty lockers down the hallway—as usual thinking David can't hear them. One of the many things Kael doesn't know about David is that his flesh-colored "hearing-aids" are there to keep the sound out.

"I shouldn't have to look at that freak all day," Kael mutters. He's a short, wiry wrestler type with blond-tipped brown hair.

"His head looks like it got run over and squashed," a pal chimes in.

"His mother must have smoked crack or something."

"Maybe she drank a lot—there's that thing called feeble alcohol syndrome," Kael says.

David has been waiting for this moment. He gives his locker a major, theatrical I've-finally-had-enough slam and stalks up to Kael. Heads turn; people nudge one another. "Whoa, watch out!" somebody says

Reading Group Guide

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. What are the book's main themes?
2. The author has identified religious themes as an important part of the book. What is your understanding of the book's religious themes?
3. Is David's defect plausible? Could it be real?
4. What is meant by "normal?" Is David a normal boy?
5. Do you believe David should have the operation? Why or why not? If you had David's defect, would you choose to have the operation?
6. What will David's life be like after the book's conclusion?
7. In what ways does Cheetah facilitate change in David's life? What is the significance of her name?
8. As a teen, what was your experience of "defects" among your circle of peers? Did you feel defective?
9. Do you believe in angels? In what ways, if any, do you believe David is an angel? Who have been the angels in your life?
10. In what ways does the book make the case that some blessings can be a curse, and some curses a blessing? How

has this been true in your own life?

Editorial Reviews

A teen with congenital physical abnormality must chose between being "normal" or "special." When David was 12, his mother sent him to Minnesota to live with distant relatives where he would be "safe." Since then, David has shifted from one foster home to another. At 15, he's finally living with a kind couple who seem to genuinely care about him and not mind that he is "different." Although he's quiet, polite and intelligent, David's short face, bug eyes, stooped back, strange body odor and hearing aids have led to peer bullying at the local high school and a transfer to Oak Leaf Alternative School. But David has another physical "defect" he's hiding from everyone including Cheetah, a young woman with severe epilepsy and a refreshing attitude. Attracted to Cheetah, David fears she'll reject him as a freak if she knows about his "defect." When he's eventually given a chance to surgically correct his physical condition, Cheetah shows him what's really important. Told with sensitivity and insight, this exploration of a young man's journey to self-acceptance seems particularly compelling in a world of extreme makeovers. (Fiction. 13-16)

Kirkus Reviews