Dodger by Terry Pratchett

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Bibliographic Information:

Dodger by Terry Pratchett

ISBN 978-0-06-200951-7

2012 Harper Collins, New York, NY

Plot Summary:

Dodger is a scavenger living in Victorian London. The book opens with him saving a young girl in the pouring rain on the streets of London. He has learned to retrieve valuables for rewards and survives on the scraps he can gather together from the sewers.

Dodger’s rescue is noticed by two men and they take him and his damsel to their home. As the story unfolds, Dodger and the damsel, Simplicity, fall for each other. Charlie (who turns out to be Charles Dickens) and Henry Mayhew enlist Dodger’s help in finding Simplicity’s attackers.

Dodger gains the attention of London police when he thwarts the evil serial killer Sweeney Todd.

Throughout all this positive attention, Dodger learns that Simplicity is married to an abusive man and she is a princess from a foreign country. Dodger helps with a scheme to fake Simplicity’s death so that she will no longer be pursued by attackers and Queen Victoria rewards him with a knighthood.

Critical Evaluation:

Terry Pratchett is amazing at creating alternate worlds. In this novel, he creates the world of Victorian London where a sewer urchin can rise to great levels in society through good will and good luck.

The language Pratchett uses for the dialogue helps the reader feel like they are inhabiting a different time. The use of local color in Dodger’s speech makes his character authentic to the time.

The introduction of well known historical figures and aristocrats is a challenge, but Pratchett seems to express their high station and privilege in their speech and action. Dodger speaks with poor grammar and slang, while the educated speak using extensive vocabularies and perfect grammar. Even Dodger’s Princess Simplicity is multilingual and articulate.

The action unfolds to expose Dodger’s noble character, even though his appearance to passers by is that of a dirty street kid, a tosher. His character development seems to become obvious to Dodger, even as the audience sees it.

The characters in this story are complete. They have good and bad sides. Even the Queen of England has depth in this novel.

Reader’s Annotation:

Dodger was a nobody until he rescues a young girl and circumstances turn him into a somebody.

Author Information:

Terry Pratchett was born in 1948 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. He had his first story published when he was just thirteen, and after leaving school at seventeen to become a journalist he continued writing, publishing his first novel, The Carpet People, in 1971 and going on to produce the phenomenally successful Discworld series as well as numerous other books, winning many awards and becoming the UK’s bestselling author.

He died in March 2015 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. You can read more about Sir Terry here.

Retrieved from http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/sir-terry/  8/5/2015

Genre(s):

Fantasy

Curriculum Ties: Literature

Booktalk Ideas: This novel connects to required reading for school (Dickens)and Broadway Theater.

Reading level: Grade 8+

Interest age: 12+

Challenge Issues: This book conforms to our collection's selection criteria. Challenge Defense File

Why I chose this book: 

I chose this book for many reasons. First, it is a Printz Honor Book. It also occupied bestseller lists, and it is just one example from Sir Terry Pratchett's extensive catalog that is targeted to teen readers.