Micka

the long version

"You are ten years old, and living in a chaotic, fractured world created by the adults in your life. Micka loves drawing and wants a pup, but with older brothers into violence and petty crime, and a mother who can't read the notes his teacher sends home from school, neither he nor the pup stand much of a chance. Then a new boy starts in Micka's class. Laurie, whose crazy mother and emotionally remote father have just split up, is a year older than Micka, and precociously articulate. Both boys have vivid imaginations, but when they meet, their imaginary worlds collide, with disastrous consequences: as Laurie's fantasies of magic and revenge become more and more unsettling, he pulls Micka into a dangerous game where the line between make-believe and real life - and, ultimately, death - is increasingly blurred. Written in direct, uncompromising yet compassionate prose, and with a breathtaking clarity of insight, Micka is an astonishingly assured debut - and an unforgettable story."--Publisher's description.