The Pricker Boy (28 page)

As a child,
READE SCOTT WHINNEM
spent his summers in the earthquake-ridden, ghost-infested woods of East Haddam, Connecticut. From an early age his father instilled in him a love of
Star Trek
, comic books, and monster movies, thereby condemning him to a life of incurable geekiness. In addition to being a writer, he is an avid gardener, cook, and photographer. Both he and his wife are proud public school teachers. They live on Cape Cod, where they dig clams, correct essays, and, when necessary, reassure their overweight cat that she is a devastatingly attractive feline.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Text copyright © 2009 by Reade Scott Whinnem

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Whinnem, Reade Scott.
The pricker boy / Reade Scott Whinnem. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: After finding a mysterious package in the spooky woods where they
have grown up, fourteen-year-old Stucks Cumberland and his friends are forced
to consider that their childhood bogeyman might be all too real.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89299-8
[1. Emotional problems—Fiction. 2. Guilt—Fiction. 3. Interpersonal relations—
Fiction. 4. Forests and forestry—Fiction. 5. Horror stories.] I. Title.
PZ7.W57655Pr 2009
[Fic]—dc22          
2008049340

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