Monday, January 10, 2011

Review: How to Steal a Car - Pete Hautman

Where I got it: Library
Rating: 4 stars
Cover Rating: 3 stars (I like the concept of the cover art, but the drawn in parts are a little weird. Also, this model does not look like Kelleigh.)
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: January 1, 2011
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
Page Count: 170 p.

Some people steal a car for the money. Some people steal a car for revenge. Some people steal a car just because. Kelleigh is a person in the last category. It all starts when a man drops his keys in the parking lot and Kelleigh picks them up and decides that instead of returning them, she will keep them. Then she accidentally finds out where he lives, and therefore where he keeps his car, and ends up taking it for a little joy ride. All this before she even has her license. After this incident her friends and some other folks think of her as a car thief and things get a little out of hand. All in all though, Kelleigh has fun with what she's doing, in spite of the consequences that will soon await her.

This was a super fast read, but it was nicely entertaining. I love that Kelleigh and her best friend Jen share a boyfriend, a guy named will, and he doesn't actually seem that interested in either of them. Any other guy would take full advantage of this sort of situation, but Will seems oblivious. If you ever thought about stealing a car this book is for you, though maybe that's bad advice and you should not read this book and fuel your desire. It's been awhile since I read Moby Dick, but I don't feel it shares many themes with this story at all. I mean it was a nice touch that she was struggling to get through it, and that showed her in a normal teenage light. It helped offset the fact that she was a criminal. Kelleigh doing her summer reading assignment makes you think that the whole car stealing must be a misunderstanding. This was a fun fast read and I definitely think you should pick it up. Though I love Pete Hautman, so I may just be biased ;)

First Line:
"The way this whole thing got started was completely coincidental and not like I planned it or anything."

Favorite Lines:
"I stole the Cadillac out of necessity. It was Jen's fault."

3 comments:

  1. This book looks really good and cute! I'll have to check this one out sometime!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just read The Big Crunch - and grabbed this book finally from the library! I've heard good things and can't wait to start it :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. This sounds really interesting and it's the first time I hear of it. Great review :)

    ReplyDelete

Hello readers! I love comments, so please feel free to leave them. I do comment back on every comment I get, though it may take me a couple of days. Thanks for stopping by!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...