Godless

by Pete Hautman

It all starts as a joke. As a cynical response to organized religion, 16-year-old... read more

It all starts as a joke. As a cynical response to organized religion, 16-year-old Jason decides that the town water tower would be a worthy god, and he and his friends begin to “worship” it. Just for fun. But things begin to change when tough guy Henry Stagg joins their congregation, pushing his peers into some pretty risky behavior, such as climbing to the top of the water tower at night. Even more disturbing, Jason realizes his best friend, Shin, is taking their new-fangled religion much more seriously than the others. He’s become a water-tower prophet of sorts, and he’s writing his own bible to spread the word. Shinn has always been a strange kid, unusually obsessive, but the idea of worshipping the ten-legged god seems to have really taken hold of him, pushing him to the edge of sanity. As a result, Jason grapples with the issues of power and faith in a provocative novel that’s hard to put down and even harder to forget. (Ages 14–18)

© Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2005

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