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Double or Nothing by Dennis Foon (Annick $12.95)
In Dennis Foon's aptly titled teen novel, Double or Nothing, we enter the high-stakes adrenaline-rush life of Kip. It's not drugs or alcohol that gets Kip high-it's gambling. And in this revised version of Foon's 2001 novel, unlike a decade ago, technology has upped the ante in addiction.
While other kids let high school turn them into "nodding zombies,"; Kip has the perfect antidote for Mr. Cheeseman's droning take on Hamlet. Spike life with a little bet.
"I say the Cheese does a belch in the next twenty seconds.";
Five bucks?
His friend Bongo coughs up ten and suddenly Mr. Cheeseman has Kip's unwavering attention.
"Will he, won't he, will he, won't he?";
Bongo touches his wallet, imagining the dollars he's about to win. Or lose. Kip knows how it works. Losers panic, they get worried. They stop having fun.
Losers buy lottery tickets when the chances of getting hit by lightning are a "hundred times better"; than winning the big one.
Losers are the panhandlers Kit brushes off. How they ended up hitting bottom is a "mystery,"; but not a mystery he can be bothered to figure out.
Then he meets sassy, independent Joey and Kip knows he's met "the"; girl. It's icing on the cake when her father "the King"; turns out to be an actual magician and, even more tantalizing, a whiz at the racetrack.
One afternoon with "the King"; and Kip walks away with five hundred bucks. Soon, though, those afternoons at the track aren't quite as profitable. But Kip's not worried about loaning money to King. "...when he's flush again, he'll pay me back. Double. It's a total win-win situation.";
Still, the fickle "Goddess of Gambling"; demands her due and Kip finds himself withdrawing more and more from his university fund to bankroll a desperate yet still hypnotically compelling King and his own escalating attraction to the casino.
Then Kit discovers on-line gambling. "It's a gimme, a no-brainer... King didn't know when to quit. He kept going after he lost his nerve."; But not Kip. "No stars in these eyes."; He puts down three hundred. "I'll know by tomorrow night how much I've cleaned up.";
With the education fund cleaned out and hit with the startling news of King's suicide, Kip is briefly derailed. Then the optimism of a born gambler kicks in and he's back in the game. Working three jobs to pay for the first semester of university, Kip's got it figured out now. Any betting he does will be with other people's money. He'll get a degree and become a stockbroker.
Foon, who includes potato peeler and driver for an auto crusher company on his resume, is the founder of Vancouver's Green Thumb Theatre for Young People and the author of The Dirt Eaters, Freewalker, and The Keeper's Shadow, which make up the young adult Longlight Trilogy.
Life, Above All, a screenplay Foon wrote for an adaptation of Allan Stratton's Chanda's Secrets, was nominated for best foreign language film at the 2011 Academy Awards. 978-1-55451-348-2
[BCBW 2011]
While other kids let high school turn them into "nodding zombies,"; Kip has the perfect antidote for Mr. Cheeseman's droning take on Hamlet. Spike life with a little bet.
"I say the Cheese does a belch in the next twenty seconds.";
Five bucks?
His friend Bongo coughs up ten and suddenly Mr. Cheeseman has Kip's unwavering attention.
"Will he, won't he, will he, won't he?";
Bongo touches his wallet, imagining the dollars he's about to win. Or lose. Kip knows how it works. Losers panic, they get worried. They stop having fun.
Losers buy lottery tickets when the chances of getting hit by lightning are a "hundred times better"; than winning the big one.
Losers are the panhandlers Kit brushes off. How they ended up hitting bottom is a "mystery,"; but not a mystery he can be bothered to figure out.
Then he meets sassy, independent Joey and Kip knows he's met "the"; girl. It's icing on the cake when her father "the King"; turns out to be an actual magician and, even more tantalizing, a whiz at the racetrack.
One afternoon with "the King"; and Kip walks away with five hundred bucks. Soon, though, those afternoons at the track aren't quite as profitable. But Kip's not worried about loaning money to King. "...when he's flush again, he'll pay me back. Double. It's a total win-win situation.";
Still, the fickle "Goddess of Gambling"; demands her due and Kip finds himself withdrawing more and more from his university fund to bankroll a desperate yet still hypnotically compelling King and his own escalating attraction to the casino.
Then Kit discovers on-line gambling. "It's a gimme, a no-brainer... King didn't know when to quit. He kept going after he lost his nerve."; But not Kip. "No stars in these eyes."; He puts down three hundred. "I'll know by tomorrow night how much I've cleaned up.";
With the education fund cleaned out and hit with the startling news of King's suicide, Kip is briefly derailed. Then the optimism of a born gambler kicks in and he's back in the game. Working three jobs to pay for the first semester of university, Kip's got it figured out now. Any betting he does will be with other people's money. He'll get a degree and become a stockbroker.
Foon, who includes potato peeler and driver for an auto crusher company on his resume, is the founder of Vancouver's Green Thumb Theatre for Young People and the author of The Dirt Eaters, Freewalker, and The Keeper's Shadow, which make up the young adult Longlight Trilogy.
Life, Above All, a screenplay Foon wrote for an adaptation of Allan Stratton's Chanda's Secrets, was nominated for best foreign language film at the 2011 Academy Awards. 978-1-55451-348-2
[BCBW 2011]
Submitted on November 10, 2011 in By David.
