Chris Lynch Books In Order

Blood Relations

Reaching the age of fifteen, Mick of Sycamore Street realizes that tormenting people for nothing more than the color of their skin is wrong and begins to make new friends, but he has trouble divorcing himself from the street life of his tough Irish neighborhood.

Slot Machine

‘If you don’t have a slot, what are we going to do with you?’

It’s called Twenty-One Nights with the Knights. But for Elvin Bishop–fourteen, overweight, and a self-proclaimed nonathlete–this summer sports ‘retreat’ is more like the twenty-one trials of hell.

As everyone around him, including his best friends, slips smoothly into athletic ‘slots,’ Elvin is pounded on the football field, slammed on the baseball diamond, and tortured on the wrestling mat–always coming out a complete failure. But appearances can be deceiving. Sometimes real strength comes from breaking the rules rather than playing the game. And sometimes finding acceptance is less about fitting in than about making your own way–with grit and humor.

All incoming freshmen at Flagship Academy’s summer program are suppose to find an athletic ‘slot’ for themselves. But there is no slot for Elvin, a wise-cracking, overweight sports incompetent who bounces from one humiliating game to another. How he discovers his own place for himself-with grit and humor-makes for ‘a funny, poignant coming-of-age story…
A wry, thoughtful book that speaks with wisdom and heart to the victim and outsider in us all.’-BL.

Bulletin Blue Ribbons 1995 C
1996 Best Books for Young Adults ALA
1996 Best Books for Reluctant Young Adult Readers ALA
Books for Youth Editors’ Choices 1995 BL
1996 Books for the Teen Age NY Public Library
Young Adult Choices for 1997 IRA/CBC

Extreme Elvin

Elvin Bishop is fourteen an official Young Adult and you know that one was dreamed up by an old adult. Having barely survived the sports camp that he and his best friends, Frankie and Mikie, attended in Slot Machine, Elvin is actually ready for high school to begin. Or so he thinks. Suddenly, Elvin’s hurled into a whole new social scene, where relationships the right relationships are the name of the game. Leave it to Elvin to fall hard for exactly the wrong kind of girl the kind of girl who is definitely not a part of any guy’s cool plan. And that’s just the beginning of his problems. Because what happens when everything that used to be so simple like friendship changes?With an appetite that forces him to shop at the Big and Tall, a mother who still talks to her long dead husband, and a nasty case of hemorrhoids, is becoming cool something that someone like Elvin can even pull off?In this second book about Elvin, Chries Lynch has written the love story to end all love stories and a multilayered look at the hysterical trials and tribulations of one guy’s introductions to Young Adulthood. 00 01 Tayshas High School Reading List

Me, Dead Dad, and Alcatraz

Elvin Bishop’s uncle is a lot like Elvin’s father. They’re both dead, for instance. But Elvin’s cool with that; it’s the way it’s been for as long as he can remember.

Then one day it turns out that Uncle Alex isn’t exactly dead. He is, instead, sitting on the couch, chewing a scone, and preparing to make up for lost time by fixing his sad sack nephew before it’s too late. Not long out of prison and perhaps not long for this world, Alex embarks on a crash course of tough love designed to turn Elvin into a real Bishop man.

Despite his mighty powers of resistance and denial, Elvin is dragged on an odyssey that introduces him to glam tuba, hellfire hot food, and the horrors of gym membership. Along the way he finds things he never wanted to look for lost relatives, history, roots, regrets, and his own wobbly brand of strength.

Johnny Chesthair

Feeling terrorized by girls, thirteen year old Steven and three of his friends form a club to learn how to become he men.

Babes in the Woods

The members of the He Man Women Haters Club go on a camping trip with Steven’s father and uncle.

Ladies’ Choice

He Man Ling has a problem. His fellow club members are consorting with the enemy. Wolf is flirting with Ling’s sister, Jerome is getting kisses from Vanessa, and Steven dissolves into a puddle whenever the dreaded Monica appears. Then the He Men are tricked into coming to a dance party, where more than one of them ends up with a girl.

Inexcusable

I am a good guy.

Keir Sarafian may not know much, but he knows himself. And the one thing he knows about himself is that he is a good guy. A guy who’s a devoted son and brother, a loyal friend, and a reliable teammate. And maybe most important of all, a guy who understands that when a girl says no, she means it. But that is not what Gigi Boudakian, childhood friend and Keir’s lifelong love, says he is. What Gigi says he is seems impossible to Keir…
. It is something Inexcusable the worst thing he can imagine, the very opposite of everything he wants to be.

As Keir recalls the events leading up to his fateful night with Gigi, he realizes that the way things look are definitely not the way they really are and that it may be all too easy for a good guy to do something terribly wrong.

Chris Lynch has written a no holds barred story about truth, lies, and responsibility a story that every good guy needs to hear.

Cyberia

From National Book Award nominee Chris Lynch, an action and humor filled futuristic series about talking pets who are tired of being pets…
and the boy who must help them. The premise: It’s the future. Zane lives in a completely wired world, with completely wired parents. Technology has progressed so that every pet has a microchip in it that allows the pet to talk. Zane’s happy about that. Until one day a strictly contraband wild animal a mole comes into his life. He smuggles it into his apartment and learns that the pets aren’t actually saying what the chip is translating. In fact, they aren’t happy that all animals have been domesticated. So they enlist Zane to help them fight back and ensure their freedom.

Monkey See, Monkey Don’t

Zane has made an enemy for life in the evil scientist Dr. Gristle. Not only is Gristle angry at the damage Zane has done to his reputation, but he’s also extraordinarily jealous of Zane’s ability to use technology to talk to animals. The result? He’s working on a new device to control animals’ movement and speech and Zane’s dog is one of the first test cases! It’s up to Zane to unwire the animals and defeat Dr. Gristle once and for all. With an eye to the future and many laughs in the present, Chris Lynch has created another animal adventure sure to appeal to middle grade readers everywhere.

Prime Evil

Zane and his animal comrades have foiled Dr. Gristle’s terrible plots twice he can’t talk to animals, and he can’t get at the heart of what makes them wild. Zane can talk to them. He can understand them. He almost is one. Almost. Zane keeps getting in Dr. Gristle’s way though and he’s being sent as far out of the way as Gristle can get him. In fact, he’s being sent right into the middle of a new plot of the bad doctor’s and in his new, utterly foreign surroundings, he’s entirely too human. Just what has Gristle done to make these new animals so angry? Can’t they see that Zane is their Friend? In order to get home, Zane must figure out a way to stop Gristle’s new plan and make some new friends before he becomes animal feed or worse. It’s time to defeat the evil Dr. Gristle once and for all! In the not too distant future, a boy must be all animals’ best friend, in a final laugh out loud adventure sure to please middle grade readers with all types of pets.

I Pledge Allegiance

Four best friends. Four ways to serve their country. Morris, Rudi, Ivan, and Beck are best friends for life. So when one of the teens is drafted into the Vietnam War, the others sign up, too. Although they each serve in a different branch, they are fighting the war together and they pledge to do all they can to come home together. Haunted by dreams of violence and death, Morris makes it his personal mission to watch over his friends and the best place to do that is in the US Navy. Stationed off the coast of Vietnam on the USS Boston, Morris and his fellow sailors provide crucial support to the troops on the ground. But the Boston itself isn’t safe from attack. And as Morris finds his courage and resolve tested like never before, he keeps coming back to a single thought. He made a pledge. He must keep them safe.

Sharpshooter

Some things are worth fighting for. Of all his friends, Ivan is the only one looking forward to war. That’s because Ivan has never backed down from a fight especially when it comes to fighting for what’s right. He has protected his friends from bullies for years. And now, as war erupts in Vietnam, Ivan wants nothing more than to fight for his country, just as his father did in World War II. Enlisting in the United States Army, Ivan is trained to be a sniper. And he’s good at it. Very good. But Vietnam is not the war he was expecting. Somehow the glory and heroism of his father’s war stories do not come so easily in the jungle. Now, for the first time, Ivan is forced to question what he’s really fighting for…
and whether it’s a fight he can hope to win.

Shadow Boxer

After their father dies of boxing injuries, George is determined to prevent his younger brother, who sees boxing as his legacy, from pursuing a career in the sport.

Iceman

The other guys on Eric’s hockey team call him the Iceman, because he’s a heartless player, cold as ice. Only Eric knows the truth he’s not cold, he’s on fire, burning with a need he just can’t explain. Least of all to his fanily not to his dad, whose only joy in life id watching Eric smash other hockey players to a pulp. Or his mom, who starts every conversation with ‘Your problem is…
‘ Or even his brother, Duane, once a star athlete, now a star slacker. Can Eric find a way to make them understand how he feels before the fire inside consumes him completely?’At 14, Eric still loves his parents, but knows they are incapable of giving him the warmth and honest emotion he seeks. He slams out his anger and suffering in the hockey rink, where he’s the Iceman, ‘the animal,’ so out of control even his own teammates shun him. Only time spent at the local mortuary with the taciturn recluse who works there gives him some measure of comfort…
. Much better than the usual sports novel…
a thought provoking book guaranteed to compel and touch a teenage audience.’ BL. ‘Eric’s narrative voice is clear and distinctive…
. Iceman will leave readers smiling and feeling good.’ SLJ. 1995 Best Books for Young Adults ALA1995 Recommended Books for Reluctant Young Adult Readers ALA1995 Books for the Teen Age NY Public LibraryBooks for Youth Editors’ Choices 1994 BLEnglish Journal Young Adult Literature 1994 Honor List

Gold Dust

If I ran things, nobody would have names. We would just have batting averages. Then there would be no misunderstandings. All of Boston has been waiting for the arrival of Fred Lynn and Jim Rice to the 1975 Red Sox. The papers call them the Gold Dust Twins, the best pair of rookies ever to come to one team together. It is a Sox fan’s dream. Richard Riley Moncrief is that fan. And he intends to live that dream, in the stands and on the field. All he needs is his partner…
Napoleon Charlie Ellis arrives from the island of Dominica and a world Richard will never know. Napoleon plays cricket, never says ain’t, and is more at home in Symphony Hall than Fenway Park. No problem. As long as Napoleon is willing to quit reading the newspapers, listen to Richard, and make baseball his life, the two of them will go on to greatness together on the field. They will be the next Gold Dust Twins. Simple as black and white. Except maybe Napoleon doesn’t happen to share Richard’s passion. Maybe he has a dream of his own. And maybe black and white is not that simple. 2001 Notable Children’s Books ALA, 2001 Best Books for Young Adults ALA, Children’s Books 2000 NY Public Lib., and Bulletin Blue Ribbon Best of 2000 Award

Freewill

Why Are You Here?

Will is supposed to be a pilot, to skim above surfaces. But instead he’s in wood shop. He doesn’t know why or maybe he just doesn’t want to admit the truth.

What Are You Doing?

He used to make beautiful things: gnomes, whirligigs, furniture. Now he’s making strange wooden totems that seem to serve no purpose.

What Do You Know?

When a series of teen suicides occurs in town, they all have one thing in common: beautifully carved wooden tributes that appear just after or just before the deaths.

What Will You Do?

Will’s afraid he knows who’s responsible for the deaths. And lurking just behind that knowledge is another secret, so explosive that he might not be able to face it and live…
.

Who the Man

Earl got big. Or, rather, big got Earl. Earl Pryor is the biggest thirteen year old anyone ever saw. He’s taller than a lot of grown ups. He’s got a hairy chest. He shaves. High school kids ask him to buy them beer. Everyone thinks Earl’s so tough, such a troublemaker, such a man. They come to him looking for a fight. And Earl will fight them. But he’s not so tough: He loves his mom, loves his dad. Still, a man’s got to take care of himself. He’s got to make people respect him. If Earl’s dad has taught him anything, he’s taught him that. When Earl gets suspended from school for a week for fighting, he figures he’ll fill up the days somehow. But a lot can happen in a week. His family is falling apart. Everything he counted on is falling apart, and Earl’s still learning what it really means to be a man.

The Gravedigger’s Cottage

Funny how much stuff
you can lose when you move.
The only thing you can’t lose is yourself.
No matter how hard you try.
No matter where you go.

Lost:

1 absentminded dog names Loose Lucy
2 inseparable duet singing finches
1 seemingly indestructible tortoise
1 huggable hamster
FRAGILE Please don’t squeeze.
1 lopsided, lop eared rabbit
1 sneaky little chameleon
Not really lost. We just can’t see him.
2 loving mothers

We miss them all very much.

Walter & Sylvia

P.S. Address all inquiries to W. & S. McLuckie at The Gravedigger’s Cottage.

Sins of the Fathers

It’s your team or your family or your neighborhood or your church, or maybe just yourself and two other guys. But you have to be able to count on each other, or you can’t count on anything at all.

My guys are Skitz Fitzsimmons, who’s daffy as a box of frogs, and Hector Fossas, who could pass for Jesus’ stronger, tougher, holier brother. I’d stack my guys against anybody’s.

The tribe that runs everything in my parish is the Franchise: Fathers Blarney, Mullarkey, and Shenanigan. One’s an old blowhard, one’s a nasty piece of work, and one’s the coolest priest on wheels. Except as soon as you think you know all that, you find out you don’t know anything.

They’re in charge of right and wrong, but it seems like they make it up as they go along.

They want to break us apart, because of what we see and what we say. So I guess the question is, can the rest of the tribe wait when one guy’s falling behind?

The Big Game of Everything

You have to love your family. You do, even if you don’t, right? You don’t have to understand them or play tennis with them, but you have to love them. It’s a rule, and it’s the kind of rule you don’t break unless you’re some kind of animal.

My brother happens to be some kind of animal. My sister rides this sweet gold Honda scooter and has amazing hair. You’d hate her. My parents are vegetarian let the sunshine in freaks. Lovable freaks but freaks all the same. My grand father possesses a shocking comb over, a kilt, about half of his original marbles, and his own golf complex. This summer, we are all working for him. It is going to be two hot, lucrative, carefree months of paradise.

Or, possibly something else.

Angry Young Man

Alexander, who wants to be called Xan, is a misfit. He’s an awkward loner who hasn t been able to find his place in the world. Xan s half brother, Robert, seems exactly the opposite. At eighteen, he s enrolled in community college and has a decent job and a great girlfriend. So when Robert suspects Xan is traveling down a dangerous path of extremism, he is determined to intervene before it s too late. But the brothers may be more similar than either of them realizes . This edgy exploration of what goes on in the mind of someone pushed to the brink examines the seeds of extremism that exist in everyone and is sure to captivate readers of all kinds.

No Such Thing as the Real World

Graduation from high school?

A senior thesis?

A betrayal by someone you love?

A loss of innocence?

The death of a parent?

Losing the family you always wished you had?

Facing a harsh reality?

What’s the line that separates childhood from the ‘real world’? And what happens when it’s nothing you imagined it would be?

Do you want to be a published author?

The editors at HarperCollins invite you to submit a short story about a character who has to face the ‘real world’ for the first time. The story must involve a single, life changing event. First prize is the opportunity to be published alongside your favorite authors in the paperback edition of the No Such Thing as the Real World collection. All stories must be between 5,000 and 10,000 words long, and all contributing authors must be between fourteen and nineteen years old.