Godless

Godless

Pete Hautman

pgs 208

Simon Pulse (2005)

Subject Matter: religion, water towers, snails, club, peer pressure, power of one

Jason is a teenager looking for something to believe in. His father is a devout follower of Catholicism, whom Jason resists walking in the footsteps of. When getting hit in the face under the water tower and looking up at the large underside of the structure while gaining his breath, Jason realizes that there is something to believe in. Something that saves and destroys all life; water. Forming a religion on the spot worshiping the water tower Jason forms a cult of followers that include the boy that punched him. Their adventure to the top of the tower to fully appreciate their God quickly turns into a disaster as Henry slips and crashes to the catwalk below. Police arrive on the scene, as no one is supposed to climb the water tower, and the church is disbanded. A whole other story opens up as Jason tries to explain what worshiping the water tower and creating a religion means to him.

Review: A great book of teen power that shows how the decisions of one can effect others and how plans and preparations can really come through.

Now You Know: Being a religious book, it does say a lot about religion, which may cause some students to question why they personally belief in what they do and reevaluate their own questions and answers.