Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jul 2009
256 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
It is the summer of 1934, and even at the height of the Great Depression, money is no object for the socialites at posh Saratoga Race Course. The trouble is times are tough for everyone else, especially penniless track workers like fifteen-year-old Jack Walsh. When Jack suddenly graduates from exercise rider to apprentice jockey, or bug boy, he is an overnight sensation. Success brings him all sorts of attention, including that of a brainy blond beauty who is more involved with the gritty underbelly of the track than she lets on and a vicious thug who presses Jack to break
Set amid the rough backstretch of Thoroughbred racing, this edge-of-your-saddle read follows the course of a young athlete whose rise to glory in the most popular sport in America is accompanied by ever-increasing pressure to do something that could leave him trampled in the dirt.
"Occasional violence, sexuality and Jack's extreme weight-loss efforts make this a more suitable read for older teens, who will find themselves thundering through the home stretch in order to discover whether Jack will win, place or show in this first-rate novel." - Kirkus Reviews.
"This well-written, engaging story effectively captures the desperate times of the Depression and the hard-edged world of horse racing." - School Library Journal
"This is a book that's going to make teen boys fall in love with historical fiction without ever knowing what hit them." - Goodreads.com
"Filled with riches and fraught with danger, Eric Luper's Bug Boy is an exhilarating ride." - RichiesPicks.com
This information about Bug Boy was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Eric Luper lives in Albany, New York, and is an avid horse racing fan. He is also the author of Big Slick.
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