Suspended from school for cussing at a mean teacher, John Spud' Sweetgrass at least still has his job selling french fries from a curbside chip wagon. But he notices that something stinks literally. Its the smell of rancid cooking oil at a polluted Ottawa beach. His suspicions aroused, Spud follows Dumper Stubbs, 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 a storm drain and causing terrible pollution in the river. When Spud blows the whistle, he loses his job. Enlisting the help of his buddy Dink the Thinker, and 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 Dumpers harmful activities. In the background of this offbeat farce are serious issues that Spud must also deal with, including his fathers death, his mothers withdrawal into grief, and his own awkward transition through adolescence. Brian Doyle expertly interweaves comedy and important contemporary concerns of young people in this vivid story with a message.

Suspended from school for cussing at a mean teacher, John Spud' Sweetgrass at least still has his job selling french fries from a curbside chip wagon. But he notices that something stinks literally. Its the smell of rancid cooking oil at a polluted Ottawa beach. His suspicions aroused, Spud follows Dumper Stubbs, 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 a storm drain and causing terrible pollution in the river. When Spud blows the whistle, he loses his job. Enlisting the help of his buddy Dink the Thinker, and 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 Dumpers harmful activities. In the background of this offbeat farce are serious issues that Spud must also deal with, including his fathers death, his mothers withdrawal into grief, and his own awkward transition through adolescence. Brian Doyle expertly interweaves comedy and important contemporary concerns of young people in this vivid story with a message.