I didn't like this book at all. Tucker's father has lost his job and developed an allergy to their cat, which leads to him meeting Dinky Hocker, a neighborhood girl with a bad attitude. He doesn't particularly like her, but is intrigued by her live-in cousin so he goes back to visit the cousin, Natalia, and his ex-cat. In order to date Natalia, he has to find a date for Dinky as well which leads to him introducing Dinky to P. John, who's even more annoying than she is. Dinky develops feelings for P. John and is crushed when he thinks of her as more of a weight-loss buddy. Dinky's mother doesn't approve of either boy and P. John ends up getting shipped off to boarding school. He comes back some months later thin and a socialist whereas Dinky has gotten even larger and become obsessed with her aquarium fish. When Dinky's mother wins a humanitarian award, Dinky spray-paints rumors about herself up and down the street as a cry for attention.

One of my main problems with this book was the lack of plot – nothing really happens. I really liked the beginning of the book and thought that Tucker could have been an interesting character, but it never amounted to much. I didn't like Dinky. I didn't like P. John. Natalia's character wasn't very well-developed, so she seemed almost transparent. Her character seemed the most intriguing to me and I would have liked to know more. It seems like I'm one of the few people who didn't love this book, but I just don't get it. If I hadn't been assigned to read it for a class, I probably wouldn't have finished it. ( )

Like a time capsule. A funny one. ( )

Like a time capsule. A funny one. ( )

Kerr, M.E. Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack. NY: Harper & Row. 1972.

The title of the novel, Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack will either repulse you or fascinate you, depending on your sensibilities, but either way, it will probably get you to open the book and start reading. If you are like Dinky’s Joe McCarthy-loving boyfriend, P. John Knight, you will begin reading this book to scorn all the nefarious Dinky for said smack-shooting. If you are more like Dinky’s addict-improving mother, Mrs. Hocker, you will begin reading in order to sympathize with poor, downtrodden Dinky. And if you are like Dinky herself, well...such a character has never existed before in children’s literature.

And therein lies the book’s appeal. Each character lifts him or herself off the page and emerges as a unique person like none you’ve ever met, while still offering gleams and glimmers of empathy. Dinky herself is an overweight, strong-willed teenager who nevertheless seeks acceptance from her peers, even as she does everything she can to push others away. The narrator, Tucker Woolf, is a typical teenage boy obsessed with girls and his own image, but he also works to dig beneath the surface and see people for who they truly are. And while you definitely see the adults of the novel through the teens’ eyes, with all the obtuseness and affectation that implies, they still manage to become three-dimensional characters, capable of growth.

The story ambles along, just like in real life, with no clear direction, until a myriad of realizations, ideas, and changes of heart ultimately collide to provide a satisfying climax. This is a character driven story of the best sort, where the fact that nothing happens much doesn’t matter because the characters are constantly growing, learning, and changing. While the references and language are definitely dated, every young person can relate to the idea that friendship includes changing yourself sometimes, to borrow the best parts of the people that shape your life. Add that to the fact that Dinky never actually shoots the smack, and you have a book about friendship that will entertain and instruct teenage readers. This book was published around the same time as Betsy Byars’ The Summer of the Swans, and includes the same idea that growing up means learning to look outside yourself and think about the way people around you function and view the world.

For ages 12 and up. ( )

Dinky Hocker is an overweight and outspoken girl. Her mom is so busy helping others, she fails to notice how much Dinky needs her.
The story is told by Tucker, a guy who loves libraries because there is always someone more awkward than him in that crowd. When he has to give away the stray cat he brought home, he meets Dinky and an interesting friendship begins. Tucker falls for Dinky's cousin, who is staying with the family after enduring many personal tragedies of her own. The story maintains it's sense of humor in spite of all the struggles of the characters and the self-absorbed adults who fail to see how much the teens need their support. ( )