Karr, Kathleen. The boxer.KARR KARR Knight Automated Roving Robot , Kathleen. The boxer. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Sunburst. 169p. c2000. 0-374-40886-6. $6.95. JS* To quote from the review of the hardcover edition in KLIATT, September 2000: Johnny Woods, age 15, has been supporting his mother and his five little brothers and sisters ever since his father left the family two years before. Slaving away at a sweatshop sweatshop: see sweating system. barely gives him enough for the rent for their cramped tenement A comprehensive legal term for any type of property of a permanent nature—including land, houses, and other buildings as well as rights attaching thereto, such as the right to collect rent. apartment in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. in 1885, so when Johnny passes Brodie's Saloon and sees a sign offering a prize of $5 to the winner of a boxing match, he's eager to try his luck--only to be arrested almost immediately, as boxing is illegal. Johnny is sent off to prison for six months. There his luck changes, as he meets O'Shaunnessey, a former boxing champion who teaches Johnny the correct way to box, and after prison takes him under his wing and grooms him as a lightweight. Johnny becomes known as "the Chopper" and is undefeated in his many bouts, meanwhile struggling to complete his high school degree and support his family, working hard to achieve his dream of moving them to a house in Brooklyn. Karr, author of such other YA novels as The Great Turkey Walk and Man of the Family, writes a fast-moving, absorbing tale that conveys the difficulties of life a century ago as well as the pluck pluck 1. an abattoir term for the thoracic viscera plus the liver, after separation from the esophagus and the diaphragm. Includes the larynx, trachea, lungs, heart and liver, plus the spleen in sheep. 2. of a brave young boxer, The fight action here, as well as Johnny's determination to make something of himself and take care of his family, will engage readers. (An ALA Best Book for YAs.) J--Recommended for junior high school students. The contents are of particular interest to young adolescents and their teachers. S--Recommended for senior high school students. *--The asterisk (1) See Asterisk PBX. (2) In programming, the asterisk or "star" symbol (*) means multiplication. For example, 10 * 7 means 10 multiplied by 7. The * is also a key on computer keypads for entering expressions using multiplication. highlights exceptional books. |
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