The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker by Cynthia C. DeFelice

when his family died i thought that would be the end of him to. 'this was a great book that had an excelent message to it. The startling results teach Lucas a great deal about fear, desperation, and the scientific reasoning that offers hope for a true cure.

Lucas can’t accept Doc’s disbelief, and he joins others in the dark ritual they believe is their only hope. Doc amputates a leg as easily as he pulls a tooth, yet when it comes to consumption, he remains powerless, unwilling to try the cure he calls nonsense. Unable to manage the family farm by himself, Lucas finds work as an apprentice to Doc Beecher, doctor, dentist, barber and undertaker. He might have saved his mother, who was the last to die, if only he had listened to news of a strange cure for this deadly disease. Lucas is grief-stricken and filled with guilt. (Apr.It’s 1849, and twelve-year-old, Lucas Whitaker is all alone after his whole family dies of a disease called consumption which has swept through the community.

Without too much rigging of the scenes, she engineers a dramatic climax that allows Joe to demonstrate real courage-and that will let readers grapple with the notion that right and wrong are not always easily identifiable. DeFelice shakes up convention, however, in a story line that draws attention to contradictory and confusing government policies regarding migrant workers. At the same time Joe grows critical of his friends' shallow behavior and jaundiced attitudes and learns to think for himself.

The plot conforms to type: Joe finds his tasks grueling and backbreaking and admires the skills of the hard-working crew of Mexicans, which includes teens who, like pretty 14-year-old Luisa, are wise beyond their years. Joe's father decides Joe needs to learn the value of a dollar and tells him to earn the money by working in the fields. Nobody had ever asked me if I wanted to grow up on a farm. Joe, the narrator, initially seems spoiled as he asks for an $899 motorbike for his birthday ('Getting me the bike was the least my parents could do. Despite a heavy-handed start and a somewhat predictable outcome, DeFelice's ( The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker) story about a 14-year-old who learns to respect the migrant workers on his father's farm offers much to absorb and stimulate readers.

The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker by Cynthia C. DeFelice