Plum-Ucci, C. (2000). The Body of Christopher Creed. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Books.
ISBN-13: 9780152063863
•Plot Summary
Torey Adams was good looking, one of the popular kids, with great parents. He had the kind of life all kids would want, including Chris Creed, the most bullied kid in Steepleton. Told almost entirely in flashback, this novel is about a boy that goes missing, but that no one seems to know if he's been killed, committed suicide or left a collection of bad situations for better things. Chris's disappearance is just another source of amusement for most of the kids he knew, but Torey becomes more involved when his friend Ali reveals that she has been keeping tabs on Chris for years, and his controlling mother has been searching his bedroom every night since his disappearance. When Ali's "boon" (wrong side of the tracks) boyfriend, Bo, becomes a suspect, Torey and his mother become active defenders. Things escalate when Torey's best friend doesn't know if he can trust Torey though, mainly because of a bad joke told during the same conversation where it was revealed his own girlfriend's father had been sleeping with Ali. Half the town is convinced Torey is to blame, a psychic tells him he will find the dead, while alone in the woods. He does, but it's not Chris at all, it's the long-missing body of a man that disappeared when his own son left due to their bad relationship. Torey breaks his leg, and the bodies decomposes before his very eyes, causing him to go from regular hospital into the psychiatric facility. A year later, he is attending private school, but has a website devoted to finding Chris. He receives regular letters from people pretending to be various persons in the story, maligning him for not understanding the parent's grief, and many other individuals. One, he believes may even be Chris, with detailed ideas about a treasure map once discussed between Chris and Torey's friend, and theories on Chris having gone to live with the relatives his mother had not spoken to in years.
•Critical Evaluation
Gritty, without being overly dramatic, and the combined plights of people stuck in various bad circumstances comes across as real. This book handles well the problems with bullying, and prejudice both, although if one is looking for a clean ending, they may be disappointed. This one ends on a large "what if".
•Reader’s Annotation
Potentially of greater interest to male teens than females, most of the female characters in this novel being rather two dimensional, but the level of intrigue and plot twists are good.
•Information about the author
•Genre
Mystery, Suspense
•Curriculum Ties
Social Science
Biology
•Booktalking Ideas
Bullying, prejudice, heresay
•Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 10-12/Ages 15-19
•Challenge Issues
N/A
•Why did you include this book in you’re the titles you selected?
I was looking for a good solid mystery, something with less romance than most of the teen novels I've picked up. I was glad to see this one spent the majority of the content exploring Chris's case, not the possible romantic plot line between Chris and his girlfriend.
