The Last Chance Texaco [Paperback]

Brent Hartinger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2005

The guy looked at me with a stare that would have frozen antifreeze.

"You the new groupie, huh?"

"Yeah," I said. "So?"

"So no one wants you here. Why don't you go back where you came from?"

I can't go back, I wanted to say. That was the thing about living in a group home. There was nowhere for me to go but forward.

Brent Hartinger's second novel, a portrait of a subculture of teenagers that many people would like to forget, is as powerful and provocative as his first book, Geography Club.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-10--Lucy Pitt is 15 when she is sent to Kindle Home, a group home and her last chance at a semi-normal life. If she makes any errors, she'll be sent to the high-security facility known as Eat-Their-Young Island. Kindle Home is different from the other places she's lived, primarily due to the dedication of the counselors and the way in which they connect with the kids. Lucy realizes that she wants to stay there, and although she manages to weather the consequences of her own impulsive tendencies, she can't control the lack of funding that threatens the Home or the arson that is causing the neighbors to become even more leery of having such an establishment nearby. Readers will root for Lucy and come away with a greater understanding of the complexities of group homes and their inhabitants. Hartinger excels at giving readers an insider's view of the subculture, with its myriad unspoken rules created by the kids, not the system. There is a touch of romance and mystery, and while those elements may be a lure for less sophisticated readers, the memorable aspect of the novel is the way it takes readers inside a system most of them have never experienced.--Faith Brautigam, Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, IL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Gr. 6-10. Hartinger's first novel, The Geography Club (2002), was a poignant high-school story. Here the setting is Kindle Home, a run-down mansion in an upscale neighborhood that's used as a group foster home for troubled teens. Lucy lost her parents in a car accident when she was seven, and in her affecting first-person narrative she tells how she has screwed up ever since. This is her last chance before a punishment center. Hartinger clearly knows the culture, and Lucy speaks movingly (if occasionally too therapeutically) about her anger and grief as well as about the other troubled kids. But this is more than a situation; there's a deeper story, as Lucy falls in love with a rich kid in the local school (first they fight, then they kiss). Best of all, however, is the mystery: who is setting cars on fire in the neighborhood? One of the Kindle kids? A neighbor who wants the school closed down? A hostile therapist? The romance and realism sometimes knock heads, but the talk is lively, and the tension of the whodunnit will keep readers hooked to the end. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: HarperTeen (March 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060509147
• ISBN-13: 978-0060509149
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,037,821 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am Brent Hartinger, and I live to write.

For the last twenty years, I have made my living writing just about everything that involves words.

I've been writing books since college, but I didn't sell any of them until the summer of 2001. Since then, I've sold a whole bunch of them--with many more in the works.

I like to write for all ages, but I particularly like writing for and about teenagers. I think it's because I identify so strongly with them (whenever I hear an adult complain about a teenager, I almost always take the side of the kid, even without hearing his or her version of the story!).

For the record, I try hard to write books that people *like* to read. (The most frequent comment I get from readers is that my books are "page-turners," which makes me very happy, because that is exactly what I want them to be!) My biggest complaint with books I hate is that they don't get to the point (or, worse, they don't *have* a point!).

My second great love is the theatre. My plays have been performed at dozens of theaters across the country. And I was recently asked to adapt Geography Club into a stage play, which was first presented (very successfully!) in Seattle in April 2004. I've also written a play version of my thriller Grand & Humble. (If you're involved with a theater and want a copy of either script, contact me at [e-mail].)

I also have several screenplays under option, and there is a feature film version of Geography Club in the works.

And if that's not enough, I've written over five hundred published articles, essays, short stories, newspaper columns, cartoons, and even a few greeting cards!

I also sometimes teach writing, in the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College and elsewhere.

I live in Seattle, Washington, with my partner since 1992, Michael Jensen. Michael is also a writer, the author of two terrific gay westerns, Frontiers, and its sequel, Firelands. Together, we also helped found a very successful entertainment website called AfterElton.com (but we don't work there anymore).

I answer all emails (eventually), so if you have a question or a comment, or if you're interested in having me speak to your school or group, contact me brenthartinger.com.

Or if you want to send me something by mail, or if you'd like to request a signed bookplate, you can reach me here:

Brent Hartinger
PO Box 30542
Seattle WA 98113-0542

My "Official" Biography

BRENT HARTINGER is the author of a number of novels for children and teenagers, including Geography Club (HarperCollins, 2003); two sequels to Geography Club called The Order of the Poison Oak (HarperCollins, 2005) and Double Feature: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies/Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies (HarperCollins, 2007); The Last Chance Texaco (HarperCollins, 2004); Grand & Humble (HarperCollins, January 2006); Project Sweet Life (HarperCollins, winter 2009); and Shadow Walkers (Flux, 2011).

Mr. Hartinger's many writing honors include being named the winner of the Lambda Book Award, the Scandiuzzi Children's Book Award, a GLAAD Media Award, the National Best Book Award, and a Book Sense Pick (four times).

Also a playwright and screenwriter, Mr. Hartinger's ten plays have been produced in dozens of theaters nationwide (twice in New York); his screenplays have won many awards, including a 2009 Writers Network Fellowship and the $5000 Fort Lauderdale Film Festival Screenwriting in the Sun Award. He has several scripts under option and in the process of studio or network development, including a film version of his novel, Geography Club.

Mr. Hartinger lives in Seattle with another novelist, Michael Jensen, his partner since 1992. He has counseled dozens of teenagers, both as co-facilitator of Oasis, a 200-member gay teen support organization he helped found, and as a counselor at a group home for young people.

Mr. Hartinger is a co-founder of Authors Supporting Intellectual Freedom (or AS IF!), an anti-censorship group, and speaks frequently at schools, bookstores, conferences, churches, and civic groups on the subjects of censorship, writing, and social tolerance. He sometimes teaches creative writing, most recently at Vermont College in the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults.

Oh, and there's lots more information about me at my website. Check it out! www.brenthartinger.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read, July 10, 2006

By 

Amanda Nicole (Darlington, SC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Chance Texaco (Hardcover)

I had to read this book for my summer reading program for school, and at first I was thinking, "This is a book the school picked out, so it isn't going to be that good. I mean they don't know what kind of books us teenagers are into. All they like are them old boring books." Man was I wrong. This was one of the best books I have ever read. I loved it. Lucy is just one of those characters that you just bond with. You also feel sorry for her, because of how so many bad things have happened to her in her life. I highly recommend this book to anyone. It is a great read for all ages. I finished it in less then three days. I just couldn't put it down. Some nights I even stayed up until four o'clock in the morning reading it. So, for anyone out there wanting to read a great book this summer, I recommend this one.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What's good is very good!, January 18, 2012

By 

Lisa Kelly Wilson "Lizard" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Last Chance Texaco (Kindle Edition)

Overall, I truly enjoyed "The Last Chance Texaco"--interesting title, nice cover, compelling premise, solid writing, an appropriate presentation of the types of issues a teen might face in the child welfare system for adolescent readers, a bit of a mystery, and a convincing and relatively unexpected conclusion to that mystery. Now, realize, I'm writing as an adult reader (also, an adult reader with a bit of experience in the child welfare/juvenile justice arenas.), but here's what I would've liked to have seen handled differently. Mainly, I was thrown by those things that seemed unrealistic or were outright unbelievable (e.g., no teen girl could show up at a juvenile detention facility, claim to be a relative, and be let in with no questions asked--much less be allowed personal contact). I wish Nate had been a more three-dimensional character--more than "rich, good-looking guy who falls in love with Lucy starting with a punch in the mouth and the offer of Happy Meal trash"--that way, I could've suspended disbelief as their relationship went from fisticuffs to kissing in the matter of days.

(Thanks, Brent Hartinger, for the chuckle as Lucy and Nate detailed what unlikely things they'd found while picking up trash.)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down! Stayed up late to finish it!, February 21, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Last Chance Texaco (Hardcover)

I really enjoyed this book, so much that once I started reading it, I could not put it down. If you liked "Geography Club", you will like this as well. I was trying to decide which one I liked better, but to be honest, I couldn't decide. GREAT second novel. Keep up the good work, Mr. Hartinger!