The One O'Clock Chop

Author: Ralph Fletcher
Recommended Age: Young Adult
Publisher: H.B. Fenn
ISBN: 978-8050-8143-5
Year Published: 2007
No. Pages: 187
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Main Character Gender: Male
Read & Reviewed by: Nick




Matt lives in Long Island, New York. During the summer of 1973, he has his work cut out for him working as a clam digger to earn extra money so he can buy a Boston Whaler from a marina down at the docks. His beautiful and exotic cousin Jazzy is visiting from Hawaii for the summer.

He falls for her and her for him and their secret relationship seems flawless except for two things: Tommy O’Rourke, another teenager from town who illegally digs badly contaminated clams in the cove and the fact that Matt and Jazzy are cousins so their relationship cannot be public. Matt gets extremely jealous when he sees Jazzy dancing with Tommy at a yacht club party and then everything takes a turn for the worse.


The relationship between the two cousins explodes in anger, confusion and jealousy and they don’t really seem to realize what else is going on around them. I think Ralph Fletcher did a good job portraying teenage relationships realistically. Love and lust are confusing and some of my peers can act like this.

At first when I read about the two cousins falling in love, I thought it was weird and obscene. I thought “Cousins aren’t supposed to date.” After I got to know the characters, I could understand how this could happen.Ralph Fletcher did a good job dealing with a different and often taboo topic.

Another part of the novel I could relate to was the clamming. I love fishing and being on the water so the description and imagery made me want to join Matt on the water. The story is told from Matt's point of view. First person narrative voice helped me relate to Matt more because his thoughts and feelings were revealed to me as the story unfolded.

I rated this book a 9/10 and recommend it to anyone who is mature enough to read young adult books.