Grape Thief

By Kristine L. Franklin

Book Overview

With refreshing honesty, heart, and humor - and a compelling young narrator - the author of the award-winning LONE WOLF takes readers back to 1925, and a place where a boy must become a man all too soon. It's 1925 in multiethnic Roslyn, Washington, and twelve-year-old Slava has earned the nickname "Cuss" because he can swear in fourteen languages. In fact, Cuss loves languages, period: unlike his older brothers, who left school after sixth grade to work in the coal mines, he likes reading about as much as he likes goofing around with his friends - or planning the great grape heist of Roslyn. But when bootleggers stir up trouble and force his big brothers to skip town, Cuss feels the weight of family responsibility dropping onto his shoulders. How can he hold on to his dream to stay in school - and still do the honorable thing by his ma and little brother?

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0763613258
• ISBN13: 9780763613259
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)
• Length: 290 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 10 to 13 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 8

Customer Reviews

This book is Wonderful.

I read Grape Thief before giving it to my pre-teen to read and I was quietly blown away, if that's possible. Since then I've shared it with other adult readers who have loved it. This book is some kind of sleeper -- I think it's a classic, but it's flying below the radar. It's a beautiful story, written well and absolutely captures a moment in american history. Beautifully crafted.

Grape thief

Twelve-year old Slava Petrovich is also known as Cuss, because he can swear in fourteen different languages. He is stuck in a hard position when he hits seventh grade. He is destined to become a miner like his brothers, until a problem comes to his town and his brothers are part of it. Trying to stay in school and out of work soon becomes the least of Slava's worries.This book is a great read and will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.Some of the suspenseful parts in this book contain an accidental killing, thievery on a grape train, and running from the law. If you like suspenseful historical fiction books I would definitely recommend this book to you.

Gripping and authentic

Grape Thief is the story of a boy forced to grow up in a hurry. Cuss, an appealing although very human pre-teen, is one a large family of immigrants whose father's death has made their lives even more difficult than those of the other struggling people in their coal town. Still, it's a tight-knit community, and although barroom brawls and run-ins with moonshiners occasionally disrupt life, neighbors look out for each other and families pull together--as they must to survive.I disagree with the Booklist reviewer who said that the "happy ending seems patched on." Books don't have to end in gloom and doom to be realistic--good things DO sometimes happen--and this is hardly a rosy ending. The family is still torn apart, the younger brother's situation is far from optimistic (I don't want to spoil anything so won't go into detail), the mother has a hard struggle ahead of her--as does Cuss. And all the events that go toward mitigating the tough situation were carefully laid out by the author ahead of time; hardly a patch job.The details of life in this mining town ring absolutely true, as do the characters' inner lives. Highly recommended.