Customer Reviews

Hit Squad (Orca Soundings)

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Chopping up classics and smashing them into little pieces is a great way to get below-average kids to read! Mickey is a tough, smart little hood, from the wrong part of town. His hulking, moronic sidekick Hulk is always following him around, begging to tend the rabbits . . . I mean, to fit in with the gang. Then tough Mickey meets sexy Birgette, who has a green light that glows all night long at the end of her . . . uh, BMW. Birgette wants Mickey to help her beat up the bullies, so suddnely they all turn into expert car thieves and go out beating and tolchocking, just like Alex and his droogs! But two wrongs don't make a right, and suddenly for no real reason our young hoodlum/hero/gang ends up running down endless corridors, searching for a final confrontation that . . . uh, never quite materializes.

"Tell me again about the rabbits, droogy!"

"Sorry, old sport, but when Daisy told me to beat up the bullies I just couldn't help myself!"

The beginning of the book deals with an attack on a pretty, rich girl - Birgit, and other attacks of bullies on other students at Grandview High. I think many kids can relate to being picked on in some way - and the examples of bullying vary widely from name-calling to creative nastiness to pure mean-spirited violence.

So, some of those who have been bullied decide to create a secret team to punish the bullies. They call themselves the Hit Squad. What happens after the first "hit" makes Mickey, one of the team members, who is living with a foster family, question how much he enjoys getting revenge. He REALLY likes Birgit and wants to fit in, but sometimes he catches himself wondering about what he's doing. His foster sister encourages him to think about what he's doing when he involves an older foster sibling in a "hit" on two especially mean bulllies, but it takes a tragedy for Mickey to realize that violence isn't the answer.