Brett Dalton is a tough guy - hardened, angry, uncaring and always ready to use his fists. When the world hates you, you might as well hate it back...But when Brett is busted by the cops for stealing and sent to The Farm for rehab, there are no fences to keep him in and anger gets in his way - but so does love. Brett's trapped in a grave new world, a world where he's not hardened at all; he's raw.

About the Author

Scott Monk was born in Macksville NSW in 1974, grew up in Sydney and now lives in Adelaide. His first book with Random House, BOYZ 'R' US, won the Young Adults category of the 1997 Royal Blind Society's Talking Book Awards and RAW his second novel was also shortlisted for the same awards in 1998. Scott wrote BOYZ 'R' US when he was 19 and it was published by Random House when he was 21. RAW is one of the few young adult novels listed for study for the 2001 HSC in NSW. In 1999, he won South Australia's Young Journalist of the Year Award for his committment to youth affairs. He currently works for The Australian newspaper in Sydney. Scott's loves include Indian food, photography, cricket, chocolate, movies, thunderstorms, frogs, going to the gym and body-boarding.

Reviews

Brett Dalton is in trouble. He’s an angry young man, with a dangerous temper and no future. When a magistrate sentences him to three months at ‘The Farm’ for a break-and-enter, Brett is given the time, and support, to evaluate his life and learn painful lessons about friendship, trust, love, and loss. Monk’s engaging tale provides his readers with didactic elements on conflict resolution, and coping strategies that don’t involve using your fists. His minor characters serve to assist Brett on his journey of self discovery rather than providing any tangents to the redemption narrative. Narrator David Tredinnick brings the story to life with an ease and mood that captures both the setting and the pace of the novel. His delivery is measured, allowing the readers to access Brett’s development and eventual resolution. A popular novel with teenage boys, the CD version is presented in seven discs, which have been broken down into five-minute chunks allowing for easy bookmarking. One reservation was that my factory-fitted car CD player refused to read the discs, so it’s worth ensuring readers have the hardware to play the novel. Tredinnick won an Adult Narrator of the Year Award in 1998 and 1999 for his readings of Little White Secrets by Catherine Jinks and Silences Long Gone by Anson Cameron. In 2001 he won a Sanderson Young Adult Narrator of the Year Award for his reading of Max by Michael Hyde. Ben Beaton is a writer and teacher in Perth C. 2004 Thorpe-Bowker and contributors