Booktalking Colorado - Full Booktalk Record

Booktalking Colorado Full Record:

	Title:	Dust
	Author:	Slade, Arthur
	Date Published:	2003
	Genre:	Real Life
	Grade Level:	6 - 8
	Booktalker:	Sam Marsh

Booktalk:
Matthew Steelgate was walking to town alone for the first time. He had 5 cents in his pocket and was three of the five miles away from home. He was hurrying because he wanted to beat his mother and father into town so that they wouldn't offer him a ride the rest of the way in the wagon. It would be an accomplishment. He could prove his legs weren't too short. Then, a truck pulled up and stopped. A man got out and offered Matthew a ride into town. "Wouldn't you like to beat them (his parents) into town?" asked the man. He opened the passenger door and gestured. Finally, Matthew pulled himself into the truck. He and the man talked and drove on. He started to feel more comfortable with the stranger. The grain elevators appeared, the rail yard, and a collection of houses. The man stared at the access road and the town as they went by. "Why don't we stop?" asked Matthew. "Because you're a child. And you know what it's like to be young. I was never young." said the man.