Hitch

by Jeanette Ingold

Book Overview

Teenager Moss Trawnley is in desperate need of work, and so he decides to head out west as a member of Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps to help protect Montana's wildlife from devastating... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0152047476
• ISBN13: 9780152047474
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Question #5: Do the times shape the individual or vice versa?

Hitch is the story about a seventeen year-old boy named Moss who is living in the Great Depression. After he is fired from his job, he goes off in search for a new one so he can provide for his family. He finds work at Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and it changes his life. At the training camp, he quickly makes some new friends, but some enemies too, including a man named Compton, who is one of the camp's junior leaders. Soon after he gets there, he almost gets kicked out for fighting with two boys who were hassling his friends. However, he is allowed to stay with a warning and is chosen to go with a group to try and set up a new CCC camp and restore the land in Montana, which is where Moss' friend Nate lives. The boys manage to get the camp built in time and, in the process, Moss is appointed a junior leader. After the new boys come in, they start on one of their first conservation projects in Montana, building a dam. However, a new captain takes over the camp, who works the boys too hard and doesn't care about the quality of what they're doing, only pleasing the inspectors. When Moss finds out that he is buying cheap supplies, the captain takes away his junior leader position. As a result, the rest of the boys in the CCC go on strike. Soon afterwards they discover that the cement they had used in the dam they built was also cheap, and the water in the dam was going to flood Nate's family's farm. At first the CCC boys refuse to help, but after Moss' convincing, they put up sandbags and dig an alternate route for the water, and manage to save the plants. Moss decides to stay another term at the CCC, even though some of his friends aren't, and everyone is happy in the end. After reading this book, I have decided that the times mostly shape the individual, but cannot be used as an excuse for how people act. The characters in this book had to learn to work extra hard for money because of the Great Depression. Today, most boys Moss' age wouldn't be so pressed for money as they were then. Also, people today have become more lazy as a result of all of the new technology and conveniences. In Moss' eyes, the Depression brought out the worst in people. He says: "The endless blasted, blasted Depression. All it did was make people be less than you expected, until it took them away from you altogether" (Ingold, 236). Moss blames the bad changes in people on the Depression, which probably does have a negative impact on some people, but it is their choice how to act. In conclusion, though times do shape people, they shouldn't let themselves be brought down because of them.

A wonderful YA book!

Seventeen-year-old Moss Trawnley has a big job on his hands. The Great Depression is ravaging America. His Ma is depending on him to help support the family. His Pa has been missing for years. When he's let go from his job in Texas, Moss decides it's time to head out after his Pa, who used to run their farm before the Depression cost their family everything. What Moss finds is a drunk and the truth that his real job is to become a man he can respect, against the odds. A judge points Moss in the direction of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Moss jumps at the chance for a steady paycheck and somewhere to eat, sleep, and work for six months. What he doesn't foresee are the friends he'll make along the way or the man he will become. A proud and honest main character and several side characters with appealing nicknames like Apple, Romeo, and The Senator, are just part of the strength of Ingold's Hitch. Filled with images of the dry promise of Montana, boys struggling to be men in a time when men were being broken by misfortune, and the deeds that make boys brothers, Ingold's Hitch is a digestible historical book for the teenage reader. Ingold's attention to historical details and her use of historical dialect to relay Moss's story, help the book move along while also teaching the reader about a period that defined the American work ethic. Hitch will especially strike a chord for underprivileged teens; but for all teens, the way Moss takes responsibility and builds himself and a part of Monroe, Montana into a new promise will inspire. Perfect for classroom reading material or as an exploration into a chapter in American history, Hitch will lead readers on a journey of discovery, obstacles, triumphs, and new beginnings. Armchair Interview says: Worthy of any young adult reader's time.

GReat

hEllo, im 13 and i read this in like 2 days it was very good i usually dont get hoooked on books that fast! It had parts where it was impossible to put the book down! If u want to buy a book for your boy to inspire him to do something maby get a job this is a good one!