Reviews
I tried to read Crescent Dragonwagon’s To Take a Dare over the summer, but it was a non-starter. The storyline was interesting– I’ve always liked books about road trips– but it was like she was describing the book she planned to write, rather than showing what the character was doing. I ended up abandoning it a few chapters in....
Susan Callaway is the overweight daughter of the Wayne High School football coach. She is constantly harassed, especially by Kale Krasner, her main tormentor. When Blake, the quiet kid who works in the library, takes revenge against Kale for other wrongs, Susan ends up getting in trouble along with him. As part of her punishment, she must spend each Wednesday after school in a session with the school counselor, along with five other kids. Of course, those kids include Blake, Kale, a cute athlete, a popular girl, and a tough girl. Throughout the sessions, the kids grudgingly learn to respect...
Life in the Fat Lane by Cherie Bennett reads like the Sweet Valley twins decided to tackle eating disorders and health problems. Lara Ardeche is a beauty queen who thinks she’s also a nice, sweet person. However, when she starts to gain weight unexplainably, she finds out she’s not so nice after all. in fact, she’s angry, judgmental, and kind of mean. She keeps gaining weight as doctors try to figure out what’s wrong with her and her parents keep insisting that if she would just diet and exercise, she could get back to her perfect weight. Meanwhile, her boyfriend...
Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher is about the Cutter High School Mermen, an unlikely swim team of misfits trying to earn their letters. The team is put together by The Tao Jones, better known as TJ, one of the three mixed-race people in his town, and coached by a teacher who started the team to avoid having to be the assistant wrestling coach. Along with being an unlikely group of athletes, the swimmers don’t even have a pool of their own. They swim in a too-small pool at a local rec center. They also face the harassment of a town...