Hertz Gets Fused
Tech-obsessed twelve-year-old Hertz Zindler gets into Godzilla-sized trouble when he accidentally starts an electrical fire in his bedroom. Bad enough, all his tech stuff is ruined, but worse—Avis, his mom’s guide dog, gets grazed by a fire truck leaving the scene and the poor dog is traumatized and unable to guide.
Hertz’s mom heads to Texas to train with a new guide dog, and Hertz and Avis head to Show Low, Arizona where an unconventional great-uncle has agreed to babysit Hertz. Not what Hertz planned for his summer. He’s stuck in an Airstream trailer park for retirees, struggling to squash his shame and hide his boredom.
Then a flicker of hope. The town-sponsored scavenger hunt provides the means—a cash prize! If Hertz wins, he can buy a used laptop at the local pawn shop and get reconnected.
But Hertz’s past, along with a string of dumpster fires, have him labeled as the sheriff’s number one arson suspect.
Now Hertz must build a team, win the scavenger hunt, avoid the sheriff, and expose the real fire starter or he could end up in juvie jail.
Author: Suzanne Purvis
Genre & Format: Story in Verse, Contemporary
Themes: Lessons Learned, Friendship, Coming of Age
Suggested Reading Level: 8-13
What's in this Book? Arson, Light Bullying, Road Trip Shenanigans
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-957362-09-0
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-957362-10-6
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Take a peek inside the book...
Smoke. Flames. Sirens.
Godzilla-sized trouble.
Cleaning-toilets-til-I’m-a-hundred trouble.
No-allowance-in-this-millennium trouble.
From half-way down our puny cul-de-sac,
sparks spit and crack.
Smoke huffs and puffs.
Orange flames flick.
In and out of a window.
My window.
The caveman fight-or-flight thing
floods my blood.
But I don’t move.
I’m grounded.
Likely grounded for life.
