Product Description

Caleb Devlin is a legend on Mockingbird Lane, the boy who terrorized an entire town before he got sent away. They say he hurt other kids, tortured animals, set fires, and did things grown-ups speak of only in whispers. But that was all before Penny and her little brother moved here.

Now Caleb's back, older and more dangerous than ever, and terrible things have started happening again. The whole town knows he's responsible, but the police can't do anything without proof. So Penny and her friends have no choice but to try to stop him themselves.

Except now he's after them.

A sleepy summer is filled with dread in this tense and absorbing thriller by acclaimed Newbery Honor author Jennifer L. Holm.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2603499 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-01
• Released on: 2003-05-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up-This Stephen King-esque thriller has potential, but is torpedoed by sloppy writing. Penny, 12, spends her time hanging out with a gang of boys down at the local creek. Enter Caleb Devlin, a legendary teenage terror whose criminal behavior had him sent away years ago. When pets begin vanishing in the neighborhood, it seems obvious to most residents that Caleb is behind the disappearances. Penny's dreams are haunted by visions of this young man who both fascinates and repels her. As she and her friends investigate, they have numerous close scrapes with menacing characters, yet their parents and the police are inexplicably unhelpful. In the final chapters, Penny works through a ludicrous, shifting roster of suspects, until the highly improbable culprit is found. The story misses the mark on several levels. The writing is weak, relying on contrived phrases, absurdly inapt similes, and jarring lapses in logic. Upon completing this novel, readers will be as clueless about some of the characters' motivations as when they began.
Douglas P. Davey, Guelph Public Library, Ontario, Canada
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 6-8. Holm, author of several historical novels about girls grappling with puberty, gives the theme a contemporary twist, adding trappings of a creepy thriller that pushes the story well beyond the wan child-plays-detective stuff so prevalent in youth mysteries. Penny, almost 13, is content to spend her summer hanging out with the boys on her block. But this year, their games are charged by rumors about exciting, sexy, Caleb Devlin, who gives Penny strange, shivery thrills. When increasingly disturbing things happen in the neighborhood, culminating in the vicious murder of a young child, Caleb is the prime suspect. Taut, well plotted, and with a smooth arc of suspense, this does more than deliver a good story; it also addresses some of puberty's difficult emotional changes and raises challenging questions about moral issues. To Holm's credit, everything isn't necessarily resolved, Caleb is a "bad boy," (though not in the expected way), and despite the dead child, there's no over-the-top violence. What stands out most, perhaps, is Holm's chipping away at the literary taboo Robert Cormier cracked open in his Rag and Bone Shop (2001); child murder and young children as murderers are not the province of children's books. Kids often see worse on the evening news, but this skillful, surprising novel may raise some adult eyebrows. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
" It's a good thing the plot moves quickly, because this one is hard to put down." (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books )

"Better crafted than the R.L. Stein classics. Sure to be popular." (Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) )

"On target, ratcheting up the tension with leisurely precision-sure to find a ready audience." (Kirkus Reviews )

Customer Reviews

The Creek review from a 15 year old bookworm
Well, if you never read a book by Jennifer L. Holm, here is a great book to start with. This book is for anyone that likes a good suspense novel when you have tons of time on your hands and feel like just reading a good book.

Well it starts out with a girl named Penny (12) who hangs out with her friends, Mac, Benji, Oren, Zachary, and her brother, Teddy. But after a while, things start changing on the block that Penny lives on. Celab Devlin returns and things start getting really scary for everyone. Before Celeb left dogs, cats, turtles, and even people showed up hurt which makes everyone in the town, panic over his return to the neighborhood. Everyone thinks he's back to his old habits, recking havoc all over town again. But, when a girl shows up dead, Penny knows something everyone else doesn't know, which sends her on her own to find the real murderer.

So if you're in need of a good book, I would HIGHLY recommend THE CREEK by Jennifer L. Holm. And if you like this book by her, read her other two history books, (which I just finished, and, even though their history, they don't seem it at ALL) Boston Jane and Wilderness Days. Enjoy!!!!

This one kept me up until one in the morning
The Creek was a great read. I was completely terrified by Caleb Devlin, the alleged criminal. I kept my mom updated with everything he did, and then continuously posted her on character complexities, and plot progression.

However, I was a little disappointed by the ending, it seemed weak and hurried and certainly didn't leave the reader either wondering or wanting more. I was a little disgusted, I have to say.

I actually read this book just because I pulled it randomly from a shelf in the teen section at my neighborhood library branch. I couldn't stop reading it or thinking about the book, and it kept me up pretty darn late one night.

Jennifer L. Holmes has some other books, namely the Boston Jane trilogy, which I absolutely loved, but they are much, much better than The Creek. I would recommend The Creek, but I would recommend Boston Jane MUCH more highly.

Nevertheless, this is an excellent read with just a weak ending. It certainly has many surprises and I always suspected the wrong person, and was very surprised to find out the real criminal.

On the subject of the real criminal: I never really understood WHY the killer did it (I'll avoid saying who it is for the purpose of a prospective reader) and it happened so quickly that I was sort of baffled when the book was over, because it seemed like the author had a big deadline to finish her book and so had to race through the last scene. I understand that the killer did all the unspeakable things he did because he wanted attention, but it's unclear why he wasn't satified with all the attention he got from his mother and new friends, and Penny, the main character.

Still, this is a deliciously terrifying read, and I would without a doubt recommend it.

Dive Into "The Creek"
THE CREEK by Jennifer L. Holm encompasses many things. It is a psychological thriller, but it is also a coming of age story. It is the story of a sleepy suburban town, but it is also the story of a young girl named Penny. Most of all, THE CREEK shows that not everything is strictly black or white. Instead, there are shades of gray. Even the most well-meaning person can do something horrific. Sometimes, the loss of innocence is horrifying in itself.

Penny and her family moved to a new town a few years ago. Her father, a doctor, and her mother, young and well-liked by her kids and neighbors, are really good parents. Her brothers are younger than she is, Teddy being only a few years her junior and Sam being a baby. Before they moved there, a kid named Caleb terrorized the town. He was rumored to have killed animals as well as other kids and rigged accidents in which people were severely if not mortally wounded. He was sent away for years.

The story starts with Penny and her friends on a summer afternoon. Everything seems well and normal. That is, until Penny spots Caleb, who has returned to town.

As various pets go missing, the tension rises and the accusations begin to fly. In spite of their parents' instance that they not go into the woods and not go to the creek, Penny, Teddy and their friends continue to hang out in their fort. The neighborhood's traditional softball games and block parties which used to be so safe and happy become shattered by tragedies. The routines that they used to have are now plagued by loss and fear.

What is wrong? What is right? WHO is right? Penny struggles with these moral questions while simply trying to stay a kid and the only girl in a group of boys. She fights the changes that are happening to her, to her friends, and to her town. This is the summer that Penny turns thirteen. This is the summer that she is forced to grow up.

THE CREEK has a very interesting take on gossip gone wrong. It incorporates growing up with childhood fears - which, perhaps, aren't so childish after all. Each character had a distinct personality, especially Penny, the heart of the story. The point is never about redemption. Holm does not make Caleb have an emotional breakdown. He never begs and pleads to be forgiven. The point is, shall we say, much sharper than that.

One of the best things about this novel is that it can take place in Anytown, USA and in nearly any of the past five decades. More and more teen books make too many references to show how hip they are, but by the time the book is published, what was hot a few months ago is now cold, and the mentions make the work feel dated.

I highly recommend this novel. I look forward to reading other books by Holm. If you enjoyed THE CREEK, try Friction by E.R. Frank and The Crucible by Arthur Miller, both of which deal with hysteria within a community.