Product Description

A moving story set in the twilight of childhood.

In the year 1904, Fred Dickinson teeters on the brink of manhood. He is spending the last summer of his childhood at his grandfather’s family cottage on Rideau Lake, the only place he feels truly alive. Shy and stuttering, Fred’s ambition is to make his living on the water, mapping the lake for hidden shoals. His father however, has other plans. Believing Fred to lack character, his father is arranging for him to work in the city to toughen him up.

Fred’s summer is one of love, adventure, and mystery. He falls in love and suffers heartache, discovers a long-buried secret about a rumoured murderer, and defies his father for the first time. Although he started the summer as an outcast, Fred eventually succeeds in finding his own place among his family and friends.

Using as a backdrop the actual 1904 diary of a young man, Julie Johnston invents a captivating tale of discovery, youthful passion, and intrigue, recapturing the atmosphere of a time less hectic, less sophisticated.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1344914 in Books
• Published on: 1999-08-14
• Released on: 1999-08-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 248 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The author of Hero of Lesser Causes and Adam and Eve and Pinch Me offers a leisurely paced coming-of-age novel tinged with mystery. In the summer of 1904, Fred Dickinson, a 16-year-old Canadian, sets out with his two younger brothers and sister for their annual vacation at their grandparents' lakeside cottage. Still missing his mother, who died three years ago, Fred is relieved to escape his overbearing and critical father, who, Fred declares, "finds it too nerve-wracking to have me stuttering and stumbling around him all day." Through carefully mapped scenes, Johnston traces Fred's maturation as he rescues various siblings from danger, receives a first, painful lesson in love and discovers the truth behind the local legend involving a murderous ferryman. The book contains a good deal of action, but its main focus remains on Fred's internal growth. Instead of molding himself to fit his father's rigid expectations, Fred chooses to follow his own path like the migrating geese, who are "curious about their destination, but always moving forward, taking the right direction by instinct." A subtle, beautifully polished work. Ages 11-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up-A coming-of-age story set in Canada in 1904. The eldest of four siblings, Fred Dickinson, 16, is a disappointment to his demanding, often cruel father. The teen is shy, introspective, and small for his age, and has a severe stutter; all of these factors contribute to his self-doubts. In addition, he still grieves over the sudden death of his mother a few years before. Fortunately, Fred does have the love and respect of his two younger brothers and his sister. When the youngsters go off to spend six weeks at their grandparents' summer cottage, it proves to be a turning point in Fred's life. He falls in love for the first time and finally feels a real sense of who he is. In the outdoors, he realizes how he wants to live his life. Of course, his father understands nothing. He expects his son to be sensible and take the job he has arranged for him in the city. Father and son never entirely resolve their conflicts, but they do eventually come to an understanding. Fred grows considerably over the summer and faces the future with a new sense of optimism. Johnston's characters are fully drawn, vivid, and always believable. The author incorporates enough adventure and humor to keep the plot moving and creates a strong sense of time and place. As adolescent fiction goes, this novel is relatively quiet and gentle. Yet, readers who are embroiled in their own conflicts with family and self will appreciate it.
Edward Sullivan, New York Public Library
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 6^-10. Sixteen-year-old Fred Dickinson spends the summer of 1904 at his grandparents' cottage in Perth, Ontario, with his three younger siblings. It is an idyllic escape from his domineering father and the recent, unexpected death of his mother. Fred finds freedom in boats, his cousins, siblings, first love, and an old murder mystery. Fred is a sensitive, articulate narrator. Although his insights and writing style seem overly mature, the journal excerpts throughout the book are taken from an actual diary, and the story is based on the experiences of a real Fred Dickinson. This is a charming coming-of-age story with a hint of romance and mystery. Ellie Barta-Moran

Customer Reviews

A series of emotional adventures and personal trials
A finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award and the Ruth Schwartz Children's Literature Award, The Only Outcast by playwright and novelist Julie Johnson is a compelling and entertaining novel for adolescent readers ages 11 through 18, and set at a lake front at the turn of the century. Fred is young man who is expected to "build his character" in a series of emotional adventures and personal trials in this most satisfying tale of growing up and coming of age. Highly recommended for school and community library historical fiction collections, Julie Johnston drew upon the actual diary of the real Fred Dickson to aptly recreate an memorable story of yesteryear in The Only Outcast.

Julie Johnston Does it Again!
Julie's books are always incredible and this one does not disappoint. It is a very sweet and well-told story. The main character, Fred, is a smart boy who is often underestimated because of his stutter. He's quite likeable, and the juxtaposition of his diary with what Julie Lawson "read between the lines" is often humourous. This could well be Fred's last year to spend the summer at the family cottage before he must "grow up," and this is a perfect look at a boy who wants to have the same fun as his younger relatives, but also to move forward and think about his future. "The Only Outcast" is much like the summer it is set in -- a sweet adventure that you would like to have forever, but then, far too soon, it is all over.