Suspended from school for cussing at a mean teacher John <strong>Spud Sweetgrass</strong> atleast still has his job selling french fries from a curbside chip wa... » 

Suspended from school for cussing at a mean teacher John Spud Sweetgrass atleast still has his job selling french fries from a curbside chip wagon. Buthe notices that something stinks literally. Its the smell of rancid cookingoil at a polluted Ottawa beach. His suspicions aroused Spud follows DumperStubbs a creepy delivery man who services local restaurants and chip wagons.Spud gets angry when he sees Dumper living up to his name dumping oil into astorm drain and causing terrible pollution in the river. When Spud blows thewhistle he loses his job. Enlisting the help of his buddy Dink the Thinkerand Connie Pan whom he calls his girlfriend though she isnt exactly that Spud thinks he has a chance of regaining his job and stopping the Dumpersharmful activities. In the background of this offbeat farce are serious issuesthat Spud must also deal with including his fathers death his motherswithdrawal into grief and his own awkward transition through adolescence.Brian Doyle expertly interweaves comedy and important contemporary concerns ofyoung people in this vivid story with a message. «