Serpent's Tooth Pb (Longman Literature) [Paperback]

Robert Swindells (Author)

Book Description

Series: Longman Literature | Publication Date: March 31, 1998

Lucy's life is falling apart. Her parents are splitting up and she hates her new school. Then plans to bury nuclear waste in the village lead to Lucy and her mother living in a women's protest camp. But Pit Field hides a terrible secret and Lucy discovers the remarkable gift of second sight.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9-- Lucy Topham, 14, is a visionary. Her ability "to see" complicates her life, especially when her mother decides to organize a protest group against a proposed nuclear waste disposal site at Pit Field, near their small English village. Lucy's father so disapproves of his wife's actions that Mrs. Topham moves into the women's protest camp at the edge of the field. Lucy experiences a recurring and disturbing vision on the camp road of two men pushing a heavily laden handcart. Although not initially committed to her mother's cause, Lucy also moves into the protest camp after a quarrel with her father. There she experiences cold, fatigue, and even assault at the hands of persons unknown. A worker at the site falls seriously ill, and it is revealed that Pit Field was the burial ground for victims of the Black Death. The ensuing panic and publicity forces the withdrawal of the crews from the disposal site. The combination of themes--nuclear waste disposal and the Black Death--should be more powerful than it is; instead, the themes are treated superficially. An abundance of thoroughly disagreeable characters clouds the believability of the story. There is, nevertheless, sufficient action to carry the story, and readers will relate to a somewhat romantic sub-plot. --Sylvia V. Meisner, Allen Middle School, Greensboro, N.C.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Ad Wes Lon Education (March 31, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0582319668
• ISBN-13: 978-0582319660
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,870,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert Swindells left school at fifteen to work on a local newspaper. At seventeen, he joined the RAF for three years, then trained and worked as a teacher. Now a full-time writer, he is the author of a number of bestselling titles for the Random House children's list. In 1994 he won the Carnegie Medal for STONE COLD (Hamish Hamilton), a teenage novel about a serial killer.
RUBY TANYA won the Salford Children's Book Award 2005.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars A serpent's tooth, December 3, 1999

By 

alison yates (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Serpent's Tooth (Library Binding)

This is the only one of Robert Swindells' books with which I have been disappointed. Having read Stone Cold and Abomination (both amazing) I was a little annoyed with this trite tale of wise old women and evil capitalists battling it out over a nuclear waste dump. It isn't boring, but I would read all his other books first.