PROCESSING REQUEST...
BIBZ
 
Login
  Forgot Password?
Register Today Not registered yet?
  1 The Prince of Venice Beach
Author: Nelson, Blake
 
Click for Large Image
Class: Fiction
Age: 12-19
Language: English
LC: PZ7.N432
Grade: 7-12
Print Run: 25000
ISBN-13: 9780316230483
LCCN: 2013012248
Imprint: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Pub Date: 06/03/2014
Availability: Out of Stock Indefinitely
List: $18.00
  Hardcover
Physical Description: 233 pages ; 22 cm H 8.5", W 6", D 1", 0.77 lbs.
LC Series:
Brodart Sources: Brodart's For Youth Interest: Popular
Brodart's Insight Catalog: Teen
Brodart's TOP Young Adult Titles
Bibliographies: Texas Tayshas Reading List
Awards: BCCB Blue Ribbons
Horn Book Guide Titles, Rated 1 - 4
Starred Reviews:
TIPS Subjects: Mystery/Detective Fiction
Social Issues
BISAC Subjects: YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Family / Orphans & Foster Homes
YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Law & Crime
YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Lifestyles / City & Town Life
LC Subjects: Homeless persons, Fiction
Homeless persons, Juvenile fiction
Mystery fiction
Private investigators, Fiction
Private investigators, Juvenile fiction
Runaways, Fiction
Venice (Los Angeles, Calif.), Fiction
Venice (Los Angeles, Calif.), Juvenile fiction
SEARS Subjects: Detectives, Fiction
Homeless persons, Fiction
Mystery fiction
Runaway teenagers, Fiction
Venice (Los Angeles, Calif.), Fiction
Reading Programs: Accelerated Reader Level: 4.1 , Points: 7.0
Lexile Level: 530
Reading Counts Level: 4.8 , Points: 14.0
 
Annotations
Brodart's TOP Young Adult Titles | 06/01/2014
Content with his surfer friends and the treehouse he sleeps in as he wanders the streets of Venice Beach, California, teen runaway Robert 'Cali' Callahan faces difficult choices when he meets the gorgeous missing teenager that a private investigator has asked Cali to locate. 240pp.
Journal Reviews
BookPage | 06/01/2014
Set on the beaches and back alleys of Los Angeles, The Prince of Venice Beach is the tale of a homeless runaway who lives an easy life off the grid--until his only means of income turns morally complex. Seventeen-year-old Robert "Cali" Callahan ran away from an endless cycle of foster homes when he turned 14. Over the years, he has remained under the radar while learning about the people, locales and vibes of Venice Beach, as well as offering his help to anyone who needs it. So when a private investigator shows up at his regular pickup basketball game, Cali plays it cool enough to land a well-paying gig helping the PI find another runaway in the area. Cali goes on to get two more PI jobs, but he ends up falling for the subject of his third search--the mysterious, elusive Reese Abernathy. Cali wants to help Reese, but with rumors swirling about her mental instability and the true cause of her mother's death, he faces tough decisions in the face of ethical ambiguity. The Prince of Venice Beach reveals the savagery and humanity of life on the streets, and provides insights into homelessness that few are able to capture. BOOKPAGE, c2014.
Booklist | 06/01/2014
Grades 8-11. Robert "Cali" Callahan is a 17-year-old runaway living on the streets of Venice Beach, surfing, playing basketball, and spending his nights in the tree house of a well-meaning local woman. Cali has a reputation of being the guy who can find anyone for a little cash, so when he is approached to help locate Reese Abernathy, the daughter of a wealthy Silicone Valley financier, he accepts, hoping to turn his side business into a real detective agency. Instead, Reese finds Cali, and after hearing her story, Cali begins to question both the motives of the people trying to find her and his own for accepting the offer. Cali is a dispassionate narrator whose determination to do the right thing without being sure what it is reveals a sensitive, street-smart kid who is, nonetheless, heartbreakingly naive. In a briskly paced novel with a noir sensibilty, Nelson (Recovery Road, 2011) exposes the dangerous reality of life on the streets without overdramatization or sentimentality. Szwarek, Magan. 240p. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2014.
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books | 07/01/2014
R. Gr. 7-10. Seventeen-year-old Cali's now so thoroughly acculturated into the street and surf life of Venice Beach that you'd never know he ran away from foster care in Nebraska nearly four years ago. He'll be eighteen in a few months, and perhaps it's time now to start to thinking about the future and maybe even consider a more mainstream life than his current situation in the backyard treehouse of a generous New Age-y lady can afford. He's had little formal education, but he has a keen eye for people and has even made some money helping the police track down strays like himself. This begins to sound like a life plan-that is, until he is given cause to wonder about the backstories of the people he's turned in. Now that he's discovered the whereabouts of missing rich girl Reese, for example, he's not terribly keen to turn in someone who seems to be a harmless free spirit eager to ditch a repressive father. Cali might even have feelings for her-or not. There's also his new friendship with sweetly nerdy Ailis, whom he also loves a little-or not. Although the ever-hardy amateur detective theme is well played, it's Cali's coming-of-age-or rather his leisurely drift into awareness that adolescence may have a shelf life-that's so thoroughly entertaining here. Nelson writes with respect for Cali's predicament and his life choices, acknowledging the pleasures and limitations of a laid-back life. This is a great summer read, or perhaps an even better one for early autumn, when you just aren't ready to let summer go. EB. 233p. THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIV. OF ILLINOIS, c2014.
Horn Book | 07/01/2014
High School. Seventeen-year-old Robert "Cali" Callahan ran away from a string of difficult foster family situations in Omaha to make a new life in Venice Beach, but he knows that living the life of a homeless surfer bum isn't a long-term solution. Fortunately, he has a knack for finding missing people. He's already helped the police find one missing teen, and when he helps find two more in quick succession, he begins to wonder if he might not be cut out for a career as a private investigator. Cali's next case, however, shows him just how ethically murky the whole business can be. He's recruited to find missing girl Reese, but he falls for her instead, and ultimately doesn't know whether he should trust her version of the truth or her father's. Nelson vividly captures the energy of the beach community, both in his depiction of the physical setting and his creation of the eclectic cast of characters that populates it. Two people in particular -- Hope, an older woman who allows Cali to live in her tree house; and Ailis, a young woman who is more than a friend but not quite a girlfriend -- help Cali transition to a better life. jonathan hunt. 235pg. THE HORN BOOK, c2014.
Horn Book Guide | 11/01/2014
2. Seventeen-year-old Robert "Cali" Callahan has a knack for finding missing people. He's recruited to find missing girl Reese, but he falls for her instead, and ultimately doesn't know whether he should trust her version of the truth or her father's. Nelson vividly captures the energy of the Venice Beach community, both the physical setting and the eclectic characters that populate it. jh. 235pg. THE HORN BOOK, c2014.
Kirkus Reviews | 05/01/2014
A teenage beach bum turns private eye in this unexpectedly sweet story about friendship and loss from the author of Paranoid Park (2006).Robert "Cali" Callahan ran away from his Nebraska foster home when he was 14. Now 17, he lives in a kind hippie's backyard treehouse in Venice Beach, Calif., roams the boardwalk on his skateboard, plays basketball and tries to avoid trouble. When he is asked by a frustrated private investigator to locate another runaway, Cali discovers a natural talent for finding people. At first he's thrilled to be earning money for nothing more than making a few innocent inquiries. But when Cali agrees to help find a wealthy missing girl named Reese Abernathy, he starts questioning the motivations of the people who are hiring him and finds himself in the middle of a dangerous game of cat and mouse. When Cali ultimately sides with his target instead of his client, the results are tragic and leave him wondering if he made the right decision. Nelson's spare style and nuanced portrayal of street kids is strongly reminiscent of the classic work of S.E. Hinton. The gritty beach setting, compelling cast of sensitively drawn secondary characters and spot-on dialogue elevate the story beyond that of a typical genre mystery.The ending hints at Cali's willingness to take on fresh cases, and readers can only hope that a new teenage private detective series is in the works. (Mystery. 12-18). 240pg. KIRKUS MEDIA LLC, c2014.
Publishers Weekly | 03/31/2014
Ages 12-up. Nelson (Recovery Road) combines a hardboiled first-person narrative and a languid Southern California setting to establish a seductive surf noir atmosphere in the story of Robert "Cali" Callahan, a 17-year-old runaway who's testing out a potential career as a private investigator on the streets of Venice Beach. Cali's doing pretty well for himself: he has a rent-free treehouse to sleep in, is generally well-liked by the other denizens of the boardwalk, and can hold his own on Venice's infamous streetball courts. When Cali starts getting quiet offers to track down persons of interest (a runaway kid here, a transient there), he's thrilled by his early successes, but learns that not knowing where the money is coming from puts him on ethically murky ground. Cali is smart, perceptive, and fairly aware of his own shortcomings, and his strong desire to help drives this moody, fast-moving novel. Although secondary characters (especially the women in Cali's life) aren't quite as fully developed as he is, Cali's romantic entanglements only add to his confusion over how to do the right thing. Agent: Jodi Reamer, Writers House. (June). 240p. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, c2014.
School Library Journal | 05/01/2014
Gr 7 Up. Robert Callahan is a 17-year-old runaway. After his father's abandonment and his mother's accidental death early on, he has experienced life as a foster child, being shuttled from one family to the next. Robert finally takes control of his destiny and escapes the harshness of Omaha, Nebraska's social service system by running away to the streets of Venice Beach, California. He's a little luckier than most runaways--instead of sleeping in alleyways and digging in garbage for food, Robert has the support of Hope Stillwell, a Venice Beach resident who allows the teen access to her home and lets him live in a tree house in her backyard. Soon, Robert's cop friend, Detective Mitchell, refers him to a private investigator trying to locate a wealthy young San Francisco runaway. After Robert helps in a successful rescue, more referrals begin to come his way, but all of them are not from the friendly detective, and all of them do not necessarily end as happily. With each new investigation Robert takes on, he is faced with new life experiences and eye-opening self-evaluations, which have him pondering the future for the first time in his life. Up until this point, Robert's kept his existence under the radar to avoid detection by authorities. Now he's thinking of a future in private investigations--with business cards and all--but, most importantly, he realizes the need to further his education and to interact more extensively with society at large. Readers will anxiously follow Robert's adolescent journey of growth in this coming-of-age novel filled with exhilarating chases and heart pounding moments. Sabrina Carnesi, Crittenden Middle School, Newport News, VA. 240p. SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2014.
~VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates Magazine - Retired Journal) | 06/01/2014
4Q 4P J S. Cali spends his days playing basketball, surfing, and skateboarding on the boardwalk of Venice Beach, California. He ran away from the foster care system in Nebraska at the age of fourteen and has been making a life for himself off the grid, biding his time until his eighteenth birthday, when he will be able to re-enter society as a legal adult. He has found some good friends--from the police detective who gives him occasional work to the woman who lets him live in the treehouse in her back yard. When his policeman friend asks him to help find a runaway who is suspected to be in the area, Cali not only finds the boy but also decides that he really enjoys the satisfaction of finding people and wants to be a private detective. Several challenging cases later, Cali has taken on a partner and is well on his way to a promising career. Cali is truly a sympathetic character. He is flawed, definitely, and subject to emotional involvement in his cases that might color his judgment, but overall, he has an aura of caring and determination that teens will find appealing. Though not without intense moments of violence and suspense, his story is fresh and cleanly told, without the language or sketchy content that one might expect given the subject matter. The reader ends up rooting for Cali--and will know in the end that not only will he be okay, but also that his circle of friends and acquaintances will be well cared for.--Laura Lehner. 240p. VOICE OF YOUTH ADVOCATES, c2014.
9780316230483,dl.it[0].title