Books by Chris Lynch
Hothouse: A Novel
by Chris Lynch
If you do it right, it can be a life. The hothouse, the guys, the glory. But just like that, it can all go up in smoke.
In the beginning it was strange, ya know, because of all that we had lost. But there was something about it that felt so good and so right, too: "I'm so proud of you, Russ." "We'll always be here for you, man." "Heroes don't pay for nothin' in this town." It was nonstop. The mayor shook my hand. Ladies sent food. I've never eaten so much baked ham in my life.
And now? Now the phone won't stop ringing from the crazies ready to blame me. My mom has to cry herself to sleep. They take a firefighter, a man, and they pump him up so big. . . . But once they start taking it away from you, they don't stop until they leave nothing on the bones.
First they needed heroes, then they needed blood.
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Me, Dead Dad, & Alcatraz
by Chris Lynch
Elvin Bishop's uncle is a lot like Elvin's father. They're both dead, for instance. But Elvin's cool with that; it's the way it's been for as long as he can remember.
Then one day it turns out that Uncle Alex isn't exactly dead. He is, instead, sitting on the couch, chewing a scone, and preparing to make up for lost time by fixing his sad-sack nephew before it's too late. Not long out of prison and perhaps not long for this world, Alex embarks on a crash course of tough love designed to turn Elvin into a real Bishop man.
Despite his mighty powers of resistance and denial, Elvin is dragged on an odyssey that introduces him to glam tuba, hellfire-hot food, and the horrors of gym membership. Along the way he finds things he never wanted to look for -- lost relatives, history, roots, regrets, and his own wobbly brand of strength.
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Sins of the Fathers
by Chris Lynch
Three best friends--Skitz, Hector, and Drew--find their bond sorely tested by the three priests who run their school, and who are determined to tear them apart, forcing Drew to take action when Hector becomes lost to the darkness of violence and shame.
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The Big Game of Everything
by Chris Lynch
You have to love your family. You do, even if you don't, right? You don't have to understand them or play tennis with them, but you have to love them. It's a rule, and it's the kind of rule you don't break unless you're some kind of animal.
My brother happens to be some kind of animal. My sister rides this sweet gold Honda scooter and has amazing hair. You'd hate her. My parents are vegetarian let-the-sunshine-in freaks. Lovable freaks but freaks all the same. My grandfather possesses a shocking comb-over, a kilt, about half of his original marbles, and his own golf complex. This summer, we are all working for him. It is going to be two hot, lucrative, carefree months of paradise.
Or, possibly something else.
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Vietnam #2: Sharpshooter (2)
by Chris Lynch
"The best Vietnam War novels yet for this age range." - KIRKUS REVIEWS
Ivan has never backed down from a fight - especially when it comes to fighting for what's right. Now, as war erupts in Vietnam, he wants nothing more than to fight for his country as a soldier in the US Army, just as his father did in World War II.
But Vietnam is not the war Ivan was expecting. Glory does not come so easily in the jungle. And for the first time, Ivan is forced to question what he's really fighting for . . . and whether it's a fight he can hope to win.
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Vietnam #3: Free-Fire Zone (3)
by Chris Lynch
"The best Vietnam War novels yet for this age range." - KIRKUS REVIEWS
When Rudi is drafted by the US Marine Corps, no one expects him to succeed. To everyone's surprise, however, Rudi turns out to be a very good soldier. That's because Rudi has decided to live by a simple code: He will follow orders. No matter how big or small. No matter how frightening.
But will following orders be enough to keep Rudi alive? And if he does survive the war, will his best friends even recognize him on the other side?
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Vietnam #4: Casualties of War (4)
by Chris Lynch
"The best Vietnam War novels yet for this age range." - KIRKUS REVIEWS
When his three best friends go to Vietnam, Beck knows he must honor his promise to go with them. He enlists in the US Air Force, where he's able to work as a mechanic, learning about planes and choppers and supersonic jets. He's also able to view the war from above, where he can admire the savage beauty of the jungle at a distance.
Beck thinks he has it all figured out. But when his tour of duty takes a turn for the worse, one thing becomes clear: Beck still has a lot to learn about war, and about friendship, too.
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Vietnam: I Pledge Allegiance
by Chris Lynch
"The best Vietnam War novels yet for this age range." - KIRKUS REVIEWS
Morris, Rudi, Ivan, and Beck are best friends for life. So when one of them is drafted into the Vietnam War, the others sign up, too - each with a different branch of the US military.
Morris joins the US Navy, and he makes it his personal mission to watch over his friends from the USS Boston. But the Boston itself isn't safe from attack. And although Morris means to keep his friends safe, he may have his hands full just watching out for himself.
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Alive and Kicking (World War II, Book 3)
by Chris Lynch
"All the sizzle, chaos, noise and scariness of war is clay in the hands of ace storyteller Lynch." -- Kirkus Reviews
Theo has always looked up to his older brother, Hank, but never more so than the day Hank enlisted in the US Navy. Not to be outdone, Theo followed his older brother's lead in joining the war effort -- but preferring the wide open sky to the untamed ocean, Theo chose to serve with the Army Air Force.
As a gunner on a B-24 Liberator, Theo is enthusiastic about his crew's mission to save all of Europe from the Nazis. Fearlessness is a requirement for dog fights at 50,000 feet. But when Theo's brother goes missing in the Pacific, fear start creeping in. Can Theo keep his head in the game while he awaits word of his brother's fate?
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World War II Book 1: The Right Fight
by Chris Lynch
There are few things Roman loves as much as baseball, but his country is at the top of the list. So when it looks like the United States will be swept up into World War II, he turns his back on baseball and joins the US Army.
Roman doesn't mind. As it turns out, he is far more talented with a tank than he ever was with a baseball. And he is eager to drive his tank right into the field of battle, where the Army is up against the fearsome Nazis of the Afrika Korps.
The North African terrain is like nothing Roman has ever known, and desert warfare proves brutal. As Roman drives his team deeper into disputed territory, one thing becomes very clear: Life in wartime is a whole new ball game.
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Walking Wounded (Vietnam #5) (5)
by Chris Lynch
Morris, Rudi, Ivan, and Beck were best friends. So when one of them was drafted into the Vietnam War, the others signed up, too. They promised to look out for one another. They pledged to come home together.
Now, that pledge has been broken. One of the four has been killed in action. And the remaining three are the only men alive who know the awful truth about their friend's death.
Each is left to deal with their secret in his own way. One of them will accompany his friend's body home to Boston. One of them will defy orders in an act of protest. And one of them will decide it's up to him to single-handedly win the war.
In the end, Vietnam may claim more than their lives. As the war grinds on, their very souls are at stake. And their shattered friendship will prove either their salvation... or their ruin.
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Inexcusable
by Chris Lynch
I am a good guy.
Keir Sarafian may not know much, but he knows himself. And the one thing he knows about himself is that he is a good guy. A guy who's a devoted son and brother, a loyal friend, and a reliable teammate. And maybe most important of all, a guy who understands that when a girl says no, she means it. But that is not what Gigi Boudakian, childhood friend and Keir's lifelong love, says he is. What Gigi says he is seems impossible to Keir....It is something inexcusable -- the worst thing he can imagine, the very opposite of everything he wants to be.
As Keir recalls the events leading up to his fateful night with Gigi, he realizes that the way things look are definitely not the way they really are -- and that it may be all too easy for a good guy to do something terribly wrong.
Chris Lynch has written a no-holds-barred story about truth, lies, and responsibility -- a story that every good guy needs to hear.
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Inexcusable
by Chris Lynch
"I am a good guy. Good guys don't do bad things. Good guys understand that no means no, and so I could not have done this because I understand."
Keir Sarafian knows many things about himself. He is a talented football player, a loyal friend, a devoted son and brother. Most of all, he is a good guy.
And yet the love of his life thinks otherwise. Gigi says Keir has done something awful. Something unforgivable.
Keir doesn't understand. He loves Gigi. He would never do anything to hurt her. So Keir carefully recounts the events leading up to that one fateful night, in order to uncover the truth. Clearly, there has been a mistake.
But what has happened is, indeed, something inexcusable.
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Shadow Boxer
by Chris Lynch
Boxing is the family sport—but it’s killing the family in this riveting read from the author of Inexcusable, a National Book Award finalist.
It’s been five years since his father died, and fourteen-year-old George is the man of the family. He knows all too well how brutal the life of a fighter can be. Didn’t it kill his father?
But Monty, George’s younger brother, has a completely different attitude. Boxing comes naturally to him. It’s in his blood. He thinks of it as his father’s legacy.
Unless George figures out a way to stop it, will boxing kill Monty, too?
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Killing Time in Crystal City
by Chris Lynch
A teen runs away from his broken life and invents a new one in this dazzling adventure from Printz Honor winner and National Book Award finalist Chris Lynch.
Crystal City called for him, and Kevin answered. And why wouldn’t he? His relationship with his father is broken—as is his arm. With barely anyone to miss him or care if he’s gone, it seemed like the perfect time for Kevin to run away to his estranged uncle and create an entirely new identity. New name. New attitude. New friends. Maybe even a new girl.
From the first moment of adventure, Kevin’s life takes a turn for the exciting. Making friends seems easy with his new persona, especially when a group of homeless beach bums instantly includes him in their crew. But do they like the real Kevin, or the guy he’s pretending to be? And will this new lifestyle help Kevin escape from the misery of his former life—or will it drag him right back into the reasons he left home?
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Kill Switch
by Chris Lynch
A gripping account of espionage and loyalty that Booklist calls “a compact, frayed-nerves bundle of brilliance,” from National Book Award Finalist Chris Lynch.
All Daniel wants to do is spend one last summer with his grandfather before he moves away for college and his grandfather’s dementia pulls them apart. But when his dear old Da starts to let things slip about the job he used to hold—people he’s killed, countries he’s overthrown—old work “friends” show up to make sure he stays quiet. Was his grandfather really involved in a world of assassinations and coups, or are the stories just delusions of a crumbling mind? On the run from the police (and possibly something worse) before he has time to find out, Daniel may have to sacrifice everything to protect his grandfather from those who would do him harm.
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Iceman
by Chris Lynch
Is Eric as cold as the ice he skates on? A fiery tour de force from the author of Inexcusable, a National Book Award finalist.
The other guys on Eric’s hockey team call him the Iceman, because he’s a heartless player, cold as ice. Only Eric knows the truth—he’s not cold, he’s on fire, burning with a need he just can’t explain. Least of all to his family—not to his dad, whose only joy in life is watching Eric smash other hockey players to a pulp. Or his mom, who starts every conversation with, “Your problem is...” Or even his brother, Duane, once a star athlete, now a star slacker.
Can Eric find a way to make them understand how he feels—before the fire inside consumes him completely?
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Inexcusable: 10th Anniversary Edition
by Chris Lynch
Date rape—from the accused’s point of view—is the subject of this “finely crafted and thought-provoking page-turner” (SLJ), a National Book Award Finalist from Printz Honor–winning author Chris Lynch. Now available in a tenth-anniversary edition.
Keir Sarafian may not know much, but he knows himself. And the one thing he knows about himself is that he is a good guy. A guy who’s a devoted son and brother, a loyal friend, and a reliable teammate. And, maybe most important of all, Keir is a guy who understands that when a girl says no, she means it.
But that is not what Gigi Boudakian, childhood friend and Keir’s lifelong love, says at all. What Gigi says seems impossible to Keir—something inexcusable—the worst thing he can imagine, the very opposite of everything he wants to be.
As Keir recalls the events leading up to his fateful night with Gigi, he realizes that the way things look are definitely not the way they really are…and that it may be all too easy for a good guy to do something terribly wrong.
Chris Lynch has written a no-holds-barred story about truth, lies, and responsibility—a story that every good guy needs to hear.
Copies
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Walkin' the Dog
by Chris Lynch
“Lynch is back and better, smarter, and funnier than ever.” —Jacqueline Woodson, National Book Award Winner
A boy learns how to be a friend from man’s best friend in this funny and moving middle grade novel about humans being able to change and dogs changing us from acclaimed author Chris Lynch.
In a family of strong personalities with very strong points of view, Louis is what his mother lovingly calls “the inactivist,” someone who’d rather kick back than stand out. He only hopes he can stay under the radar when he starts high school in the fall, his first experience with public school after years of homeschooling.
But when a favor for a neighbor and his stinky canine companion unexpectedly turns into a bustling dog-walking business, Louis finds himself meeting an unprecedented number of new friends—both human and canine. Agatha, a quippy and cagey girl his age always seems to be telling two truths and a lie. Cyrus, a few years his senior, promises he’s going to show Louis how to be a better person, whether Louis wants him to or not. And then there are the dogs: misbehaving border terriers, the four (possible stolen) sausage dogs, the rest of Louis’s charges, and a mysterious white beast who appears at a certain spot at the edge of the woods.
Dogs and human alike all seem to have something they want to teach Louis, including his menacing older brother who keeps turning up everywhere. But is Louis ready to learn the lesson he needs most: how to stop being a lone wolf and be part of a pack?
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Hit Count
by Chris Lynch
“I hit him so hard, the clash of helmets and pads sounded like a gunshot across the field. I crushed him with the hit, held on to him and crushed him again when I slammed him into the ground . . . I had arrived.”
Arlo Brodie loves being at the heart of the action on the football field, getting hit hard and hitting back harder. Arlo’s dad cheers him on, but his mother quotes head injury statistics and refuses to watch games. Arlo’s girlfriend tries to make him see how dangerously he’s playing; when that doesn’t work, she calls time out on their relationship.Even Arlo’s coaches begin to track his hit count, ready to pull him off the field when he nears the limit. But for Arlo the winning plays, the cheering crowds, and the adrenaline rush are enough to convince him that everything is OK--in spite of the pain, the pounding, the dizziness, and the confusion.
“Powerful.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Sharp.” —Sports Illustrated
“Heart-pounding.” —Washington Independent Review of Books
“A powerful provocative look at the dark side of popular sports and their potential cost.” —Publishers Weekly
“This unflinching examination of the price of athletic power with plenty of bone-crunching play-by-play action, is both thought-provoking and formidable.” —The Horn Book Magazine
A Booklist 2015 Top Ten Sports Books for Youth
A Junior Library Guild Selection
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Hit Count
by Chris Lynch
“I hit him so hard, the clash of helmets and pads sounded like a gunshot across the field. I crushed him with the hit, held on to him, and crushed him again when I slammed him into the ground . . . I had arrived.”
Arlo Brodie loves being at the heart of the action on the football field, getting hit hard and hitting back harder. That’s where he belongs, leading his team to championships, becoming “Starlo” on his way to the top. Arlo’s dad cheers him on, but his mother quotes head injury statistics and refuses to watch games. Arlo’s girlfriend tries to make him see how dangerously he’s playing; when that doesn’t work, she calls time out on their relationship. Even Arlo’s coaches begin to track his hit count, ready to pull him off the field when he nears the limit. But Arlo’s not worried about tallying collisions. The winning plays, the cheering crowds, and the adrenaline rush are enough to convince Arlo that everything is OK—in spite of the pain, the pounding, the dizziness, and the confusion.
Hit Count explores America’s love affair with football and our attempts to reconcile the clear evidence of its dangers with our passion for the game.
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Taking Aim: Power and Pain, Teens and Guns
by Joyce Carol Oates, Chris Crutcher, Francesca Lia Block, Walter Dean Myers, Alex Flinn, Peter Johnson, Elizabeth Wein, Chris Lynch, Michael Cart, Ron Koertge, Eric Shanower, Marc Aronson, Will Weaver, Tim Wynne-Jones, Jenny Hubbard, Gregory Galloway, Edward Averett
Powerful, riveting, real. Sixteen celebrated authors bring us raw, insightful stories that explore guns and teens in a fiction collection that is thought provoking and emotionally gripping. For fans of Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock and Give a Boy a Gun, and with an array of YA talent like the late great Walter Dean Myers, the poetic Joyce Carol Oates, the prophetic Elizabeth Wein, and the gritty Chris Crutcher, these are evocative voices that each has a different perspective to give. Capturing the hurt and the healing, victims and perpetrators, these stories get to the heart of the matter.
From a boy whose low self-esteem is impacted when a gun comes into his possession to a student recalling a senseless tragedy that befell a favorite teacher, from a realistic look at hunting to a provocative look at a family that defies stereotypes, each emotional story stirs the debate to new levels. The juxtaposition of guns and their consequences offers moving tales, each a reminder of how crucial the question of guns in our society is, and the impact they have on all of us.
Other acclaimed contributors are Marc Aronson, Edward Averett, Francesca Lia Block, Alex Flinn, Gregory Galloway, Jenny Hubbard, Peter Johnson, Ron Koertge, Chris Lynch, Eric Shanower, Will Weaver, and Tim Wynne-Jones.
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