Books with author David Kennett

When Charlie's military family is transferred to western Pennsylvania, Toby Brant is the first friend he meets. Not only is he the most interesting teenager in town but Charlie soon knows he has made a friend for life. Toby collects salamanders, catches fish with his bare hands, and knows how to find food for his struggling and dependent family. His quick wits save the friends from tricky, and even dangerous, situations as their escapades become more daring. But as Charlie spends more time with him, the more mysterious Toby becomes. He doesn't attend Charlie's new school, and seems to move around more frequently than Charlie. Everything Toby does is drenched in drama, and it all leads up to one confusing and terrifying moment that uncloaks Toby's mystery. it's a story of friendship, character, tolerance, and survival.

It was a great year, that year Charlie went to high school in the Denver area. He had a turn at playing football for a legendary coach, and he made very, very good friends with a beautiful cheerleader. He had an extraordinary English teacher and got one of his stories made into a play, which was performed. He made many good friends, but he encountered unexpected problems. The football coach was abusive, and he did not like the English teacher. The cheerleader and her family were loyal to the football coach, while Charlie preferred his English teacher, and divisions grew into wide chasms.

Here is a romp for smart, pre-teen boys with a twinkle in their eyes and harmless, well-planned pranks in their hearts. ** Old Man Hanson is a recluse, but his orchard has some of the best apples around, and he protects them mightily from the neighborhood five who never tire of trying to steal someeven though their attempts are doomed to failure. Getting the apples becomes a duel of wits and the boys form the GOH (Get Old Man Hanson) Club. Plots and counterplots, pranks and counter-pranks propel the humorous story. When Old Man Hanson dies, curiosity leads the storyteller, Sam, and his buddy, Bill, into Hansons house. ** In the midst of their snooping they experience Hansons best prankthey are trapped and must use their wits to escape within a specified time. They do escape, and the reader roars at the mental hijinks they go through. Later, at the reading of Hansons will, his final pranks motivation becomes clear. He was a genius, a rich and lonely man, with only a short time to live. The boys added fun to his last years. The tricks they played were harmless, thought-provoking and humorous, and at no time malicious. To thank them, he bequeaths to them his orchards as a business, his small but fine, personal library, and college tuition for certain studies. To benefit the community and the children, the orchard business is to be self-perpetuating, for as each child turns 18 another neighborhood child is to be chosen by the new adult as his replacement. ** Respect for mental agility bridges the age differential. While enjoying the pranking youngsters problem-solving abilities, Hanson planned to nurture those abilities for their future happiness and for the happiness of other children like them. When they matured, each group of youngsters would respect Hansons genius and purpose and carry it on for the next wave of young, creative thinkers.