Trouble by Gary Schmidt

Henry Smith is just your average kid. He has a mom, a dad, sister Louisa and a brother named Franklin. Franklin is a rugby star who promised to climb the mountain Katahdin with Henry. Henry’s life is quite uneventful until a car hits Franklin. Franklin looses his arm and is rarely conscious in the hospital bed. The entire family goes into depression. Louisa locks herself in her room and refuses to come out, Henry’s father just stares out the window, and Henry’s mother tries to put on a brave mask but Henry hears her cry herself to sleep at night. Henry immediately hates the man who hit Franklin, Chay Chouan. When they go to court to see what happens to Chay, the court declares him innocent and just takes away his license for a few months. Henry is furious that the man who tried to kill his brother is off the hook. As Chay leaves the courtroom he looks up at Louisa and she begins to cry. Henry decides that in honor of Franklin he is going to climb Katahdin. Will he make it, and what’s up with Chay and Louisa? To find out these answers and more read Trouble.

I give the book 3 out of 5 stars because the book was excellent once the action started but until that point it was slow. I have to admit that the author set up the plot very well but there were a lot of unnecessary details that dragged down the plot. Overall I thought the book was average with an occasional glimmer of extraordinary writing.

-Review by SilentLikeALamb17

Works Cited
"Trouble Cover." Online image. LibraryThing. 13 Nov. 2008 http://www.librarything.com/work/4124215