Recycling George

I don't know when I have enjoyed a novel more than my recent reading of Stephen Roos' brilliant new book RECYCLING GEORGE. Like Mr. Roos' previous book, THE GYPSIES NEVER CAME, he writes with a terse style and abundant wit that make the sensitive issue of a child's abandonment all the more keenly felt and understood. The character of George is so believably complex: plucky and unlucky, passive and angrily defiant, brave and scared all at the same time. George trying his hardest to make the best out of the terrifying moment when he returns to his trailer park home to discover that his family has abandoned him and taken the trailer with them. How young George comes to terms with this abandonment reminds one of the resilience and humor of the young hero of J.D. Salinger's Catcher In The Rye. Like Salinger, Roos understands a boy's heart and knows how to reveal this heart to us through humor and searing honesty. Roos' writing style only continues to grow in power and simplicity with each new undertaking he attempts-making him one of the truly great authors writing about and for adolescents today."