Starred Review There is violent action and gentleness and also much to think about in Spinelli's novel about a boy in a rural community who dreads the annual town Family Fest, when 5,000 captured pigeons are released in the park to be shot. The 10-year-old boys get to wring the necks of the wounded birds not killed instantly by the sharpshooters. The picnic and the killing raise funds to maintain the park. Sound unbelievable? It really happens in many parts of the country. Spinelli imagines what it must be like for one boy who cannot bear to be part of the brutality. Palmer wants to belong to the gang. He is thrilled when the hoodlum kids accept him, and he gains their grim respect. He dumps his best friend, Dorothy, and joins in when the bullies taunt her unmercifully. But he has always dreaded the annual pigeon massacre, and now that he is 10, he cannot face the initiation rite--especially when a pigeon flies through his window and becomes his beloved pet, soaring free by day and returning at night to be fed, to roost in his closet, to wake him each morning with a nip on the ear. Only Dorothy knows his secret. What if the gang finds out? Or his sharpshooter dad? Can Palmer save his pet from the slaughter? Dorothy's role is unconvincing, especially when she stands up to the bullies without being affected at all, physically or emotionally. However, the combination of the tender, sometimes comic pet story with the bloody public festival will move kids to think about a lot of issues. Can lawful horror be a part of fun and food in the park? Is hunting always wrong? Can one person make a difference? See the Read-alikes column on p.119 for books to recommend after Wringer. (Reviewed Sept. 1, 1997)

In a realistic story invested with the intensity of a fable, nine-year-old Palmer faces his future as a wringer--one of the ten-year-old boys who strangle the pigeons wounded during the town's annual pigeon shoot. Spinelli's story is honest but not without hope, not only in its conclusion, but in Palmer's friendship with the girl across the street, in the surprising discoveries he makes about his parents, and in his love for Nipper, the pigeon he shelters and eventually saves.

The ghastliness of a local rite of passage gives this tale of a boy's inner battle between revulsion and his desire to fit in a whiff of Cormier—but with some belly laughs from Spinelli (The Library Card, p. 650, etc.) to lighten the load. In the popular fund-raiser that caps the town of Waymer's annual, weeklong Family Fest, entrants gun down thousands of live pigeons, while, under the guidance of a wringmaster,'' ten-year-old boys are enlisted to break the necks of birds that are only wounded. Even after winning acceptance (and a nickname,Snots'') from neighborhood bully Beans, and learning to join in the relentless harassment of his one-time friend, Dorothy Gruzik, Palmer regards his fast-approaching tenth birthday with dread. Then, like the Ancient Mariner's albatross, a pigeon appears at his bedroom window and moves in, calmly ignoring Palmer's halfhearted efforts to shoo it away. ``Nipper'' provides comic relief, both in its own behavior, and in Palmer's frantic attempts to conceal it from his parents and from Beans. He finds a—more or less—sympathetic ear in Dorothy, who, after some fence-mending, gives him the support and impetus he needs to make his true feelings known. She even spirits Nipper out of town as Family Fest approaches, but unknowingly leaves the pigeon where it can be captured for the shoot—and the stage is set for a dramatic rescue. A story both comic and disturbing, this is lit by Palmer's growing courage and Dorothy's surprising loyalty. (Fiction. 9-11)"

Palmer dreads his 10th birthday, when he will become a "wringer," trained to wring the necks of pigeons gunned down in an annual shooting contest. The thought of killing the birds sickens him, as does the bullying behavior of his three buddies. When Palmer makes a pet of a stray pigeon, he struggles to find the courage needed to confront his peers and act according to his conscience. A moral drama sure to engage young readers and promote classroom discussion. A Newbery Honor selection. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.