 | In the middle of the night Garrett is taken from his home to Harmony Lake, a boot camp for troubled teens. Maybe some kids deserve to be sent there, but Garrett knows he doesn't. Subjected to brutal physical and psychological abuse, he tries to fight back, but the battle is futile. He won't be allowed to leave until he's admitted his "mistakes" and conformed to Harmony Lake's standards of behavior. And there's no way to fake it. Beaten, humiliated, and stripped of his pride, Garrett's spirit is slowly ebbing away. Then he hears whispers of an escape plot. It's incredibly risky -- if he's caught, the consequences will be unthinkable -- but it may be his only way out. In this tense, riveting novel, award-winning YA author Todd Strasser reveals what really goes on in highly secretive -- and notoriously dangerous -- boot camps, a stealth prison system where any teenager under the age of eighteen can be imprisoned at his parents' whim. |
Monday, January 19, 2009
Boot Camp by Todd Strasser
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Garrett Durnell – 15 at the time of his incarceration, goes to Lake Harmony because he was disobeying his parents, sneaking out to go to Sabrina's, and stealing money from them after they cut his allowance.
Sarah – She had been there for 2 ½ years. Her father is a Mormon apostle and elder, and she must pay for her sins. She tries to kill herself. She wore a sign around her neck that said “2 years and still pulling the same crap.” She lies and tells Garrett that she has an aunt in Ontario that they will escape to, but there is none.
Pauly – Pauly was sent because he wasn't the tough guy that his father wanted. He concocted the plan to run away. He pulled the circuit breaker, and started a fire to get them out. He gets sick near the end of their escape
Adam – freckles, red hair, small. Bullies the other kids to help raise levels. He's a level 5. Has a posse of David and Robert
Ron and Jon – Level 5 guards who beat him up when he's in TI, temporary isolation.
Joe - “father” of Garrett's family, Dignity. Often sends him to TI.
Mr. Sparks – a “chaperone” (guard) who regrets his job, but he must support his family. He's nice when alone with Garrett.
Mr. Z – the director of Lake Harmony.
Sabrina – His lover who was his teacher, until his mom had her fired. She is 8 years older than him
Harry and Rebecca – his transporters, or kidnappers.. They catch him when he escapes also. Rebecca once attended Lake Harmony. Harry calls her sugarplum.
Garrett is taken from his house, flown to Utica, NY, and driven. He's not allowed to go to the bathroom until he arrives at Lake Harmony. Boys wear green polos, jeans, and green flip flops. Girls wear red polos, jeans, and red flip flops. The director is Mr. Z. Garrett memorizes the “bible” in 40 minutes. There are 6 levels. Lower levels have short hair, higher levels can watch TV and grow their hair out. Levels 5 and 6 can wear real shoes. “Fathers” and “Mothers” wear white polos and khakis while “chaperones” wear black polos and khakis. Self-improvement tapes are played during meals, called RL or right living, that make it difficult to talk to each other. Adam throws eggs at him, and Mr. Gold and Mr. Sparks take him to TI. When he was 8, he faked asthma to get out of gym class, and his parents realized that he wasn't brilliant, just too smart for his own good. His father is a lawyer who helps companies buy other companies, and his mother runs a crisis management firm. He had a relationship with his teacher, Sabrina, which is why he is there. He wouldn't go to school everyday because he learned material quickly. He has to talk to other kids at Circle.
Pauly had food poisoning, and Joe accused him of faking a rash. David, Robert, and Adam beat up Pauly in the bathroom and point a toothbrush shiv at him, and Garrett makes them stop, which sends him to TI again. Slaps are favored because they don't leave bruises. Adam takes food from Pauly after Garrett ignores him, but Adam later sticks the shiv in his back because Garrett wouldn't give him his hot dogs. He found a stub of a pencil in the parking lot, and passes notes to Sarah that he writes with his left hand. He studies calculus during schooling time. Megan, a new girl, knocks Joe unconscious, and Pauly plans with Sarah and Garrett to start a fire to escape. Megan is duct taped in a blanket with duct tape over her mouth. Ted is the school nurse. He tells Adam that he's never getting out because they need him to do their dirty work, which sends him back to TI. At reflections, they have to write down their thoughts, and they can write a letter every two weeks. To get out of TI, he had to write a letter to Sabrina, which was sent to his parents. Mr. Sparks was the referee of soccer games, and jumps in when a player goes out. Adam, David, and Robert drop a new Sony TV on him, and Joe gets angry.
His dad visits him after 6 months, but his mom is too busy with work. Adam teased him for the visit, and Garrett knocks over the table, pouring food on him, and grabs his neck. Jon blames it on Pauly. Sarah says she has an aunt in Toronto they're going to run away to. Mr. Sparks recruits him to play basketball, even though it's supposed to be Level 4 and up. He writes a letter to Sabrina saying he was sorry to have loved her. Adam beats him up, but Joe stops him. Pauly shoves Garrett into Adam, and cuts off the circuit breaker, padlocking it shut with a padlock that came with Sarah's suitcase. Garrett grabs Joe's ankle and trips him, and Pauly starts a fire. They run out when a firetruck comes in. Joe catches Sarah, but they duct-tape Joe and toss him behind a tree. They hitchhike in a red pickup truck which is headed to Alexandria Bay. They said they were following a band called Fudge, but the pickup driver knew they were doing an West Coast tour. He notices their flip flops and says he has a friend who works at Lake Harmony. When he goes into a gas station to buy them donuts and coffee, they run away because he might have called the cops. They hide in a cornfield, and then they hitch a ride with a semi driver, who speaks mostly French. When they stop for Sarah to use the bathroom, he drives off.
Inside, Garrett sees Harry in the bathroom and Rebecca in the main store. They leave and hide by a dumpster where they get their dinner. They sleep behind the truck stop. Sarah steps on a piece of pointed wood, and they have to light a fire to see to get it out. They have to walk along the street instead of the woods, where they were walking. They hear a foghorn and realize they're near the Saint Lawrence River. Garrett runs through a fence that opened to let a car through to the docking bays. Rebecca sees him in there and runs after him. He crawls under a fence and kicks her when she grabs him. She lets him run away. They steal a boat from Dan's Daily Boat Rentals, and Harry sees them. They pull the stoppers from the other boats and go. They make it to the other side, but Garrett goes back because Harry and Rebecca tried to follow them, and their boat was sinking. Pauly said there was no aunt in Toronto, they said it to make him go along. While saving them, Alexandria PD arrest them for stealing the boat. Harry and Rebecca take him back to Lake Harmony. He causes everyone to be demoted one level, and they make him sleep outside. He is beaten and broken. It transitions to when he's almost a level 5. Rebecca told his parents what goes on at Lake Harmony because he saved her life. His parents ask him if a staff member ever hurt him, and he said he deserved it.