Final Cut

Volume XXIX / Issue 3 - September 16 / 2022
Final Cut
Final Cut
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Final Cut

Author: 
Marty Chan
Series: 
Orca Anchor
Victoria, BC: Orca, 2022
79 pp., trade pbk., pdf & epub, $10.95 (pbk.)
ISBN: 
9781459834187 (pbk.)
9781459834194 (pdf)
9781459834200 (epub)
Grades: 
Grades 7-12
Ages: 
Ages 12-17
Review by: 
Ruth Scales McMahon
3
Excerpt: 

On the screen Denise’s and Cole’s faces were pasted onto the butts of two pit bulls.

Cole said, “Snowflakes are so sensitive these days. Hello, butt sniffers. Hope you’re enjoying the show.”

A bark came from Denise before she said, “Sniff away.”

Cole sniffed the air, “Ah fresh butt.”

The clip ended with a big fart sound effect and a loop of Cole and Denise repeating their last lines.

“Sniff away…Ah, fresh butt…Sniff away…Ah, Fresh butt…Sniff away…Ah, fresh butt.”

One boy howled with laughter, “Play it again! That’s hilarious.”
When Cole and Denise had interrupted my shoot, the camera had caught everything they said. All I had to do was use an effect filter to stick their faces on two dog butts.

“They’re butt heads!” a girl said with a laugh. “‘Sniff away’ Hilarious.”

More students crowded around to watch the clip. I cracked a smug grin and enjoyed the rave reviews.

Cole and Denise walked down the hallway. I slipped to the back of the crowd and watched as Cole pushed his way to the middle, smiling.

“What’s so funny?” Cole asked. “Let me see.”

Mason, a teen film maker, is moving to Toronto. In his final salute to his arch nemesis, Cole, Mason posts a meme making fun of Cole and his girlfriend Denise. Cole, captain of the rugby team and the reason Mason quit the rugby team, learns Mason is the creator of this meme and is determined to make him “pay”.

Mason is chased by Cole, Denise and their friends. Mason survives by using his wits, first, by creatively eliciting the help of a salesclerk to distract Nadia (Denise’s tall rugby playing friend) and, second, by using the fake blood prop he has in his backpack to trick Cole and his friends into believing Cole had stabbed Mason. The twist in the plot comes when Mason comes upon Denise being accosted by two men with questionable motives. Mason interferes, allowing Denise time to escape.

When Denise arrives on the “stabbing” scene, Cole and his friends, Min and Darin, are about to shave Cole’s hair from his head. Min senses her hesitation on the revenge they are dishing out to Mason. After the faked stabbing and Cole and his henchmen have fled the scene, Denise and Mason have a moment of connection, thereby giving readers a “happily ever after” ending.

Final Cut is a page turner with a theme that will resonate with its intended audience. The straightforward plot would make it a good choice for easy analysis. The characters move the plot forward; the urban setting is easy to visualize. Maya, friend of Mason’s, whom we briefly meet, is revealed as of Vietnamese descent. Rugby players are stereotypically cast as vengeful bullies.

This new series, “Orca Anchor”, is written specifically for teens reading below a 2.0 reading level and has enhanced features to aid students with dyslexia and other striving readers. (NB, the excerpt is given a 3.2 Flesch-Kincaid Grade level, with a Flesch Reading Ease of 88.1 calculated using Microsoft Word.) For high schools, this new series is a welcome tool in the quest to engage teen readers. This contemporary, action-packed story will be welcome in schools and public libraries looking to reach out to this population.

Recommended
Reviewer: 

Ruth Scales McMahon, a professional librarian, works in a high school in Lethbridge Alberta. She is a member of the Rocky Mountain Book Award Committee.