The Grounding of Group Six

Gripping, demanding, but does it combine the achievements of Swarthout's Bless the Beasts and Children and Cormier's I Am the Cheese? (Answer below). A group of misfits, sent away to college by their parents, find that the plan is that they are to be killed. Final solution. They and their group leader/assassin discover what real, interesting, warm human beings they all are. They evade death, face up to their parents' hate, outwit the college death squads and end up in control - of everything. Nearly 300 pages involve you in these people, hiding out in the hills, becoming self-sufficient, and this is interesting. But the situation is portrayed only through vagueness and caricature: the parents' need to wipe out their children is sketchily explained; the college conspirators are cartoon nasties. Since the plot rests on these elements it fails. I was involved while reading, and I'm sure kids will be too. But the answer to the opening question is, No. Prefer the other two books any time. Buy this for the library but don't take it seriously.