Danny Ain't

by Joe Cottonwood

Book Overview

With the help of some unusual characters in a small California town, Danny struggles to live on his own while his father, a Vietnam veteran, is in the VA hospital. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0590450670
• ISBN13: 9780590450676
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Scholastic
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.6"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

Personal Responsibility the Hard Way

This sequel to The Adventures of Boone Barnaby is the tale of a young man coming into his own under difficult circumstances. He lives in a rented camper trailer on a suburban ranch with his father, a whacked out Vietnam Veteran prone to flashbacks, sitting for days in a tree with a rifle waiting for MedEvac helicopters to lift him out of his miseries.When Danny?s dad is hauled away to the VA Hospital a few hours away the plot thickens. Danny has already spent time in a youth shelter and he?s determined not to let it happen again. He keeps the secret from all but his closest friends. Most of the story is the account of Danny?s struggle to remain independent, attend school as though nothing?s wrong at home, and get enough to eat during the weeks while he?s alone.During the process Danny learns the lessons of the street most youths of today will never encounter. He?s forced to decide what he wants to be and what he refuses to be a part of. The time would have been much easier for him if he?d been willing to be a ?delivery boy? for the local drug distribution neophyte. He almost does, then makes the right choice. During a weak moment he steals a $50 bill from the house of a friend, then discovers he also doesn?t care to be a thief, and slides it under the door of the owner.Danny learns to take total responsibility for himself and his choices as few adults have learned. He discovers during the process what Danny Ain?t. In doing so he becomes a man.