• Who's Reading What on Wednesdays?

Skink — No Surrender | July 2, 2014

by Carl Hiaasen (September 2014, Knopf Books for Young Readers / Random House Children’s Books)

Carl Hiaasen was on stage during this year’s BEA Children’s Author Breakfast to discuss Florida, road kill recipes, and his forthcoming foray into children’s literature, Skink — No Surrender. This mystery thriller centers on small-town-Florida teen Richard as he tracks down his wayward, runaway cousin, Malley. Malley’s sporadic and increasingly troubling phone calls give Richard a thin trail of breadcrumbs, which lead him across the state and deep into the Chockatwatchee River. The story, on its surface, bears more than passing resemblance to John Green’s ‘Paper Towns’, but where ‘Skink’ distinguishes itself from that—and really any other YA book you’re likely to encounter this year—is in its eponymous character, a drifter who goes by Skink. Skink literally bursts onto the scene early in the story and from then on effectively manages to steal the spotlight and the reader’s imagination.

Skink is a former Governor of Florida turned off-the-grid environmentalist; a hulking, hairy relic of the seventies, prone to fits of black-out violence. In spite of these moments, Skink lives a life on admirable, if eccentric, principles. He is a catalyst on the page, propelling Richard into trouble as often as he bails him out of it, and it is from Richard’s perspective—that of a bewildered outsider, the co-pilot kept at arm’s length—that the reader is able to grasp at clues about the motivations of this larger than life personality. Skink is a recurring character in Carl Hiaasen’s work and it is easy to see why. Although readers do not need to have read any other works featuring Skink, Skink — No Surrender just might compel readers to find out more about the ex-governor.

 

Learn more about this title