Gorman, Carol. Games; a tale of two bullies.GORMAN, Carol. Games; a tale of two bullies. HarperCollins. 288p. c2007. 0-06-057027-X. $15.99. (Lib. bdg: 0-06-057028-8. $16.89.) J Forced to play games with your foe until you can learn to get along: what kind of punishment is that? There's nothing 8th-grade archenemies Boot and Mick enjoy more than taunting and then socking each other, but the new principal at their middle school is determined to change their behavior and so devises this unusual sentence. In alternating chapters, the two boys tell their stories. Both have difficult home lives; smart aleck smart al·eck n. Informal 1. A person regarded as obnoxiously self-assertive. 2. An impudent person. [Perhaps after Aleck Mick finds solace in reading, despite his alcoholic father, while tough guy Boot, who loves playing guitar, tries to avoid his physically abusive Tending to deceive; practicing abuse; prone to ill-treat by coarse, insulting words or harmful acts. Using ill treatment; injurious, improper, hurtful, offensive, reproachful. dad. Both boys have a crush on pretty, manipulative ma·nip·u·la·tive adj. Serving, tending, or having the power to manipulate. n. Any of various objects designed to be moved or arranged by hand as a means of developing motor skills or understanding abstractions, especially in Tabitha, who eggs them on in their rivalry as it escalates to dangerous dares--and takes bets on the outcome, they discover. The boys do bond eventually, of course, and when Boot runs away, Mick is the only one who knows where to find him and what to do. While their reconciliation is predictable, readers, especially boys, will enjoy getting to know the sympathetic protagonists. Gorman, the author of Dork dork n. 1. Slang A stupid, inept, or foolish person: "the stupid antics of America's favorite teen-age cartoon dorks" Joshua Mooney. 2. in Disguise Disguise Dishonesty (See DECEIT.) Abigail enters nunnery as convert to retrieve money. [Br. Lit.: The Jew of Malta] Achilles disguised as a woman to avoid conscription. [Gk. and other books for younger YAs, tells the tale with humor humor, according to ancient theory, any of four bodily fluids that determined man's health and temperament. Hippocrates postulated that an imbalance among the humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) resulted in pain and disease, and that good health was and flair. The ending provides drama as Mick and Boot discover which wars are worth waging, but a message about informing a responsible adult about the beatings Boot has endured would have been appropriate. Paula Rohrlick, KLIATT J--Recommended for junior high school students. The contents are of particular interest to young adolescents and their teachers. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion