Kook

by Chris Vick

Overview

A heart-pounding love story that grips like a riptide, and doesn’t let go…

Fifteen-year old Sam has moved from the big city to the coast – stuck there with his mum and sister on the edge of nowhere.

Then he meets beautiful but damaged surfer-girl Jade. Soon he’s in love with her, and with surfing itself. But Jade is driven by an obsession: finding and riding a legendary huge wave no one has ever ridden.

As the weeks wear on, their relationship barrels forward with the force of a deep-water wave – into a storm, to danger … and to heartbreak.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780008185381
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	08/30/2016
Sold by:	HarperCollins Publishers
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	13 Years

About the Author

Christopher Vick lives in Bath with his family. He works for a whale and dolphin conservation charity, is a graduate of Bath Spa MA programme in children’s writing and is a keen surfer. He has been lucky enough to travel to some amazing places around the world to see whales and dolphins in their natural habitat. And to surf…

Editorial Reviews

10/01/2016
Gr 10 Up—Fifteen-year-old Sam, his mother, and his younger sister have recently moved back to England's Cornwall coast, where Sam's father lost his life at sea years before. Sam's paternal grandmother still lives there, battling cancer. His mother is attempting to reestablish a family connection, although the relationship between the two women is strained. Sam's mother is also motivated by her desire to raise her children in a wholesome environment, away from the temptations of London. Sam finds his own trouble, however, as he falls in with the teasing, enigmatic Jade and her band of hard-partying surfer friends. Largely to impress Jade, Sam takes up surfing, earning the nickname Kook, slang for a newcomer to the sport. He quickly falls in love with surfing, and the rapturous descriptions of the thrill of riding a great wave are the highlight of the book. As he becomes more involved in the surfing scene, Sam is inevitably drawn into the accompanying drug culture. Armed with his father's charts of the local waters, which he discovered in his grandmother's house, Sam leads the band to a dangerous area called the Devil's Horns, where they surf mammoth waves in treacherous conditions. None of the characters in the novel are likable—and the author perhaps overreaches in his attempt to lend significance to Sam's teen angst. VERDICT While not a first purchase, this book may have appeal to those interested in exploring the nature of this exciting sport.—Richard Luzer, formerly at Fair Haven Union High School, VT

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