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    Reckless
    Reckless
    Reckless
    Ebook72 pages1 hour

    Reckless

    By Lesley Choyce

    4.5/5

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Josh knows he's riding recklessly when he knocks down the old man he suspects is the hermit of Loggerman Creek. But he is shocked when the hermit walks into the forest with his bike after the accident. Being without his beloved bike for a week motivates Josh to hike into the woods and confront the crazy old man. The hermit, Jonathan, has fixed Josh's bike, and Josh learns that he has more in common with the old man than he ever imagined. When Jonathan needs help, Josh has to respect the old man's choices in order to save his life.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOrca Book Publishers
    Release dateMar 1, 2010
    ISBN9781554695256
    Reckless
    Author

    Lesley Choyce

    Lesley Choyce is an award-winning author of more than 100 books of literary fiction, short stories, poetry, creative nonfiction, young adult novels and several books in the Orca Soundings line. His works have been shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, the White Pine Award and the Governor General’s Literary Award, among others. Lesley lives in Nova Scotia.

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    Reviews for Reckless

    4.5/5

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    • 5/5
      What can a hermit and a teen possibly have in common? Most people, especially teens would answer, “nothing”. Joshua was about to find out just how much he had in common with the hermit who lived in the woods. His life changed the day he ran down the old hermit on an old logging trail, and then watched the man walk into the woods with his bike. Joshua lived for the days he could hop on his bike and tear into the woods. It wasn’t just the thrill of riding it was sitting in the quiet woods absorbing the peacefulness that surrounded him. Of course he would never tell that to anyone. After a week of no bike, Joshua decided to get his bike back. That is when he really met the hermit named Jonathon. Jonathon had fixed up Joshua’s bike like new. Over a period of time they find out just how much they are alike and what true friendship is. I absolutely loved this book. I loved the lifestyle the old hermit lived. I think this goes back to my fondness for the old pioneer days and my growing up in my great-grandmother’s farm house. A lot of people think these were simpler times because of no television, phones, etc. They were hard working times and most people got the satisfaction of communing with nature and working with their hands. I believe Joshua felt this way. He didn’t give up his technology but embraced the peacefulness that took him away from the crazy world if only for a few hours. I also think meeting Jonathon gave him a new outlook on how events shape our lives and how our mind must sometimes go into survival mode. I am hoping that my students will love this book as much as I did. It is appropriate for the very topics we have been covering in my reading class about survival. This is definitely an author I will look for in the future. A nice, clean simple read that lifted my spirits.

    Book preview

    Reckless - Lesley Choyce

    Reckless

    Reckless

    Lesley Choyce

    orca currents

    ORCA BOOK PUBLISHERS

    Copyright © 2010 Lesley Choyce

    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.

    Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

    Choyce, Lesley, 1951-

    Reckless / written by Lesley Choyce.

    (Orca currents)

    ISBN 978-1-55469-224-8 (bound).--ISBN 978-1-55469-223-1 (pbk.)

    I. Title. II. Series: Orca currents

    PS8555.H668R425 2010 jC813’.54 C2009-906833-8

    First published in the United States, 2010

    Library of Congress Control Number: 2009940766

    Summary: While riding his dirt bike on an abandoned logging road, Josh encounters a Vietnam veteran who has been living in the wilderness for forty years, and the two develop an unusual friendship.

    Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

    Cover design by Teresa Bubela

    Cover photography by Getty Images

    Orca Book Publishers

    PO Box 5626, Station B

    Victoria, BC Canada

    V8R 6S4

    Orca Book Publishers

    PO Box 468

    Custer, WA USA

    98240-0468

    www.orcabook.com

    Printed and bound in Canada.

    Printed on 100% PCW recycled paper.

    13 12 11 10 • 4 3 2 1

    Contents

    chapter one

    chapter two

    chapter three

    chapter four

    chapter five

    chapter six

    chapter seven

    chapter eight

    chapter nine

    chapter ten

    chapter eleven

    chapter twelve

    chapter thirteen

    Titles in the Series

    chapter one

    I was having a bad day. I woke up a half hour late and missed my bus. I had to walk to school. This made me late for my English test, so I didn’t have time to finish it. It’s safe to say I failed it. What is it with poetry anyway?

    I had no lunch and no lunch money, and I couldn’t bring myself to beg from anyone in school. Sonia, the Sonia, who had said I was cute and that she wanted to go out with me, changed her mind. I could tell because she was talking to Anton when I walked by her. She totally ignored me.

    On the way to the bus in the afternoon, I stepped in a fresh pile of dog crap. This made me less than popular on the bus, so I got out halfway and walked the rest of the way home.

    At home, I threw my shoes in the garbage can outside and went in to put on my old hiking boots and biking clothes. Without saying hello to my mom, who was upstairs, I grabbed my helmet and headed for the shed. I was almost out the door when I remembered. Leave a note.

    Home from school. Gone to the woods. Be back by dark.

    Josh

    We’d had many arguments about the dirt bike. This was our compromise. I grabbed the cell phone from the top of the fridge— another compromise—and stuffed it into my pocket.

    My old four-stroke Kawasaki dirt bike looked as ragged and beat-up as ever. But it was my only friend right then. Its smell of leaking oil made me smile. I kicked the stand and walked it into the yard, poured gas into the tank and then cranked it over. As it roared to life, the neighbor’s dog started barking. I knew my mom would hear it and want to come out to talk to me. I didn’t want to talk. I popped on the helmet, jumped on the beast, hit the clutch and put it in first gear. I gave her some gas, and we were off.

    One good thing about living in a little town in the middle of nowhere is that you are surrounded by a lot of empty space. Well, not empty really. But there is a lot of land with no people. Hopevale was on the edge of a huge government-owned forest. There were logging roads left over from the old days, and one connected with the road I lived on. It was only a two-minute roar— and I do mean roar—to where I could leave civilization behind. And that’s what I did.

    I downshifted, took the turn a bit too fast and dipped into the ditch that was intended to keep out SUVs, ATVs and bikers off the logging road. I lifted off the seat and revved hard on the gas as my knobby tires clawed at the gravel. I shot out of the ditch and over the embankment, taking a few inches of air. The forest looked dark and inviting. I leveled out and cranked my bike wide-open for the first straight stretch.

    I wanted to get deep into the forest as quickly

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