Grade 4-7?Tension mounts in Blue Ash, MN, when a nonunion company moves in and takes over the jobs of resident union workers. Byran Grant's father is one of the misplaced employees and the stress spills over into his family's life. Sixth-grader Byran tries to understand the situation, the feelings of the newcomers, and his father's hateful attitudes. Only when vandalism and eventual all-out confrontation leads to the boy's father's arrest do the key players realize that other solutions might be possible. Casanova has created an exciting, realistic novel. Discussion lovers will have a field day debating the strengths of the issues and the people involved. Characters sustain the mood of the fast-paced story. Bryan serves as a model for family loyalty yet remains true to his own thinking as well. For reading aloud or enjoying as a coming-of-age story, Riot has a place on library shelves and in social-studies curriculum literature.?Cheryl Cufari, Glencliff Elementary School, Niskayuna, NY
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Gr. 5^-8. Sixth-grader Bryan Grant has not had a good summer. His dad has been on strike protesting the hiring of nonunion workers, and his mom, who teaches school, is unhappy with the tense climate in their small Minnesota town. Bryan's father increasingly talks of taking action, but his mother remains committed to a peaceful solution. Already torn by his parents' different perspectives, Bryan finds his life further complicated by his attraction to a new girl in town, whose father is a nonunion worker. The exciting climactic scene describes a full-scale riot, which Bryan secretly videotapes. His film creates incriminating evidence against his father, who is caught on the tape setting fire to the mobile homes of nonunion workers. Based on actual events that occurred in 1989 in the author's home town, this fast-paced story poses challenging questions that have no easy answers. Lauren Peterson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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