The story:
'Subbies' live in the suburbs of Silverdale, a large fictional city. 'Chippies' live in the run-down city. The subbie children like to go out 'chippying' (visiting nightclubs in Rawhampton). This prompts adverts on TV about the dangers of chippying.

Zoe is friends with Tabitha, the daughter of a very wealthy property developer. She encourages Zoe to go chippying with her, Ned and Larry. Ned drives them to the Blue Moon nightclub, where Daz is as well. In order to leave the suburb, they tell the guard on duty that they are visiting Zoe's cousin in the next suburb and are made to show their ID cards to the bouncers who guard Silverdale..

Zoe and Daz fall in love when they first set eyes on each other, although, at first, Zoe thinks it may be the 'lobotomizer' (coke, rum and 'a couple of other ingredients') that she has been drinking.
Larry spots an attractive chippy girl and subtly tries to call her over to him. She smiles out of embarrassment, but he thinks she fancies him. Eventually he shouts her loudly, his outburst coinciding with a pause in the music. Her boyfriend picks up a chair and goes over to Larry. A policeman steps between them. The chippy throws the chair, which Larry deflects with his arm. Daz comes over to rescue Zoe, taking Larry by the arm and telling the group to run and save themseves.


About the author:
Robert E. "Bob" Swindells (born 20 March 1939) is an author of children's and young adult literature. Born in Bradford, the first of five children, Swindells worked for a local newspaper after leaving school aged 15. He served with the Royal Air Force and held various jobs before training as a teacher. His first novel, When Darkness Comes (1973), was written as his thesis while in training. Swindells combined writing with teaching until 1980 when he took up writing full-time. He first won the Children's Book Award with Brother in the Land (1985), a novel set in a post-apocalyptic world. Swindells was a supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and is quoted as saying that the work "... came out of my own anger and frustration ... you can’t kill selectively with nuclear weapons, you wipe out millions of people ..."






Buchdaten:
Taschenbuch: 176 Seiten
Verlag: Puffin; Auflage: New Ed (1. April 2011)
Sprache: Englisch
ISBN-10: 0140372644 ISBN-13: 978-0140372649
ISBN: 0140372644
Preis: € 8,20