By James Heneghan and Norma Charles.
Norma Charles
- Published by Orca Books in USA and Canada, 2009.
“James Heneghan is one of British Columbia’s most quietly successful authors.” BC Bookworld
“A page-turner.” Quill and Quire
“Short sentences, clear and direct writing, and tense situations make this an excellent choice for reluctant readers.” Debbie Carton, Booklist
EXCERPT
“My stomach lurched with dread. I felt like throwing up. I couldn’t believe I was doing this. Crazy.
Chest thumping, I hurried into the bank and stood at hte ATM in the bank vestibule. There was no lineup inside the bank. I counted two customers and two women tellers.
Billy headed toward the younger of the two tellers, the one closest to me. His rain jacket was zipped up over his chin.
He passed a note across the counter.
THIS IS A BANK ROBBERY. YOU WON’T GET HURT IF YOU DO AS YOU’RE TOLD.
I knew what the note said because I had written it.”
REVIEWS
FROM BC BOOKWORLD. Heneghan has increasingly moved towards serious subjects for young adults… In Bank Job, Nell and two boys in her foster home rob banks to raise money to pay for expensive renovations to their caring foster home. The story was inspired by a newspaper story of three teens in Vancouver who robbed seven banks.
FROM MICHELLE SUPERLE IN CM MAGAZINE (April 3, 2009.) Perhaps following the popular examples of Melvin Burgess’s Junk and Doing It, James Heneghan and Norma Charles convincingly portray shocking contemporary adolescent social behaviour while upholding the dominant moral position that such behaviour is problematic. Their novel, Bank Job, for 9 to 13-year-old readers, effectively manages to balance along this ideological tightrope and empathetically explores why three young teens would engage in the serious crime of bank robbery… It’s easy to get caught up in the story and cheer for Nell, Billy, and Tom, who are each deeply sympathetic characters.
FROM LINDSAY SCHLUTER IN THEMATIC LINKS. … concise … fast-paced… readers will zip through the book’s pages in a mere hour or two, making it an ideal candidate for the last-minute book report writer.
James Heneghan 