The Lottery

by Beth Goobie

Book Overview

Every student at Saskatoon Collegiate knew that all the most important aspects of school life were controlled by a secret club called Shadow Council. Each fall, Shadow held a traditional lottery... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1551432803
• ISBN13: 9781551432809
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

The Real Winners Are The Readers

A real heart-touching story, Beth Goobie takes on the challenge of writing about teen social issues, comflicts, drama, and things the teachers dont know about. This story is very real, i'm sure that virtually anyone who reads this will understand and can relate to the issues being delt with. The only thing I can critique on was the age reccomendation. It says for grades 9 and up but I am going into 7th and it was on our sumnmer reading list. I think this book would be better suited for more mature readers. Overall fantastic book and I can not wait to read another Beth Goobie book.

The Lottery "Winner" isn't the same no more.

Beth Goobie's work "The Lottery" is an amazing book, showing today's teenager conflict on school bullying and person conflicts. In this novel, the school of Saskatoon Collegiate isn't as it seems; the school hold a tradition passed on throughout the history of school. Every year the elite group of the student council called the Shadow counci picks one lucky winner out of whole student body, this person would be the lottery winner for the year. But in this lottery you are no winner but the victim of the whole student body, and a lacky of the Shadow Council. That person happens to be a girl from grade 10, no more than an average student attending highschool: Sally Hanson. Sal lead a tragic life from the death of her father, and block out memories of her past which haunt her time to time. She had only the support of her brother, mother and friends to keep her from falling to the edge. Now one by one her friends and students alike shunned her like a disease,no one are willing to help her, disobey the shadow council and your world would be more of a living nightmare then it already is. While reading this book, a good number of teenagers could relate on the topic of school bullying maybe to the extreme, school activities, drugs, smoking, bystanders, victims for being unpopular to the most recent problems since the book is dated very close to current year. It's an incredible book with colourful vocabularies and yet a powerful language is spoken straight into the minds of the reader; with bits of humor but also a lot of "tear jerking" "heart touching" moments.It's definitely a worth while novel to read.

Powerful!

Beth Goobie is an amazing writer. The storyline of this book is unbelieveable, yet so true in today's society. It is difficult being a teen because there is always considerable pressure to conform and be part of the "group" Furthermore, what a person will do to remain part of the "group" is mind boggling. People's needs for kinship and acceptance are very strong, which makes people conform to peer pressure to such a degree. Images from this story haunted me long after I finished reading it.

Tense and realistic

Beth Goobie must have been an outsider as a teen, because she writes with brutal honesty in many of her books about what it is to be alienated. The Lottery is no exception.Modeled on Shirley Jackson's classic story, a contemporary high school clique posing as an activity club selects one student to be the shunned prankster and scapegoat for one year. When Sally Hanson is the victim/winner, she succumbs at first to the tradition, but as the expectations of the Shadow Club deepen and the head of group takes an unusual interest in her, she struggles with her decision to go along with all they ask. Subplots such as a dead father and a handicapped friend/possible romantic interest complicate the basic plot and weaken the drama of Sal vs. Shadow Club, but Goobie presents a believable character and plausible plot, and everything comes together neatly in the end. Recommended for most school and public libraries, may have possibilities for use in literature classes. Acclaimed Canadian novelist Beth Goobie's newest book for young adults is a sometimes-frightening tale of a quasi-secret society of teens whose sole purpose is to control the daily lives of fellow students at Saskatoon Collegiate School. The 'Shadow Club' has been around for years there, and is both feared and accepted by the students, yet it is unknown to teachers and administrators - they think the group's purpose is aiding, promoting, and staging school events. The novel's main character, 15 year-old Sally `Sal' Hanson, must not only navigate the normal adolescent trials of school, classmates, and family - she now must also deal with being chosen by lottery as the Shadow Club's 'victim' for the year. The victim is theone student that the Club relies on as its gofer and slave, and by tradition is thereby totally shunned by all students for the entire year. Sal knows that what she's doing is often hurtful to many of her classmates, but she feels powerless under the Shadow Club's domination of student affairs, and she is also becoming enamored of the Club president - the handsome and well-liked Willis Cass. Sal struggles to play the game without losing friendships or making enemies, as the club ultimately requires her to set in motion more and more terrible events at the school. The reader is caught up in many tense moments as Sal deals with her predicament and looks for a way out.

A good read

"The Lottery" at first seemed like a pathetic imitation of "The Cocolate War." If I could have, I would have given it three and a half stars, but three seemed too low. I thought the name the "Shadow Council" sounded unimaginative and at first the book didn't seem all that scary. Reading on, however, I saw that Sally's position in her school and the assinments given to her by S.C. were terrifying--not so much the assinments themselves but the way people treated her because she was the "lottery winner." I still don't quite understand how an entire school let S.C. scare them and take over their lives. However, I would say it is worth reading, but you may not want to buy it.