''Gowie Corby Plays Chicken'' () is a children's novel by

Gene Kemp Gene Kemp née Rushton (27 December 1926 – 4 January 2015) was an English author known for children's books. Her first, ''The Pride of Tamworth Pig'', appeared in 1972. She won the British Carnegie Medal for her school novel '' The Turbulent ...

, set at the fictional Cricklepit Combined primary school in

southern England Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes G ...

. It was published in 1979.

Plot

The central character is Gowie Corby, a young boy with an absent father, an alcoholic mother and an obsession with

horror films Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoc ...

. He is highly intelligent but shows little interest in school and exhibits a range of

anti-social behaviour Antisocial behavior is a behavior that is defined as the violation of the rights of others by committing crime, such as stealing and physical attack in addition to other behaviors such as lying and manipulation. It is considered to be disrupti ...

. His life changes when an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

girl, Rosie Lee, comes to live next door and provides him with a positive role-model. He begins to take interest in school and his behaviour improves with the encouragement of a sympathetic teacher. His progress is threatened however, by the intervention of his older brother, who has a record of petty crime and displays

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

attitudes towards Rosie and her family. The main plot is framed by two short chapters which present Gowie as an adult with a young family, the latter chapter providing a

twist ending Twist may refer to: In arts and entertainment Film, television, and stage * ''Twist'' (2003 film), a 2003 independent film loosely based on Charles Dickens's novel ''Oliver Twist'' * ''Twist'' (2021 film), a 2021 modern rendition of ''Olive ...

Notes

1979 British novels British children's novels Novels set in elementary and primary schools 1979 children's books Children's novels set in schools Children's books set in England {{1970s-child-novel-stub