Scan barcode
roseleaf24's review against another edition
4.0
This was great on audio. Though I got a bit bigger down by the basketball in the middle, I'm sure many younger readers would not. This was such an interesting story of family, friendship, and the lies we all tell. Though it is a friendship between a black boy and a white boy in the newly desegregating South, race is a fact that plays a role in the book, but not a focus of the story.
profberta's review against another edition
1.0
Absolutely awful. A white man should NEVER write in the voice of a black man. Period.
icecreamjane's review against another edition
3.0
Super Simple Summary: Jerome Foxworthy is being integrated into an all white school. Circumstances at home land him in a Home Ec class, where he meets Bix. The strange and sad story of Bix unfolds as the two play basketball and talk jive.
The writing is pretty great. You get all that 60's slang like "dude" and "jive" and "jiggaboo" and some other colorful racial slurs.
The writing is pretty great. You get all that 60's slang like "dude" and "jive" and "jiggaboo" and some other colorful racial slurs.
meganac's review against another edition
5.0
The end of this book shocked and crushed me. I loved Bix...
momreaderh's review against another edition
3.0
I could see where this was trying to go, but it never got there. Very weird and lots of non-sequiturs.
pagesofpins's review against another edition
3.0
Sports fan teens looking for a book with action and some deep thinking as well will enjoy this suspenseful tale of a smooth talking, hoop shooting teen boy who is the first to integrate to a white school in the sixties. He teaches some ball to a mysterious and disturbed new friend, and the story of that friend's disappearance is what drives this book. I'm not a sports fan, so the way the author wrote about the game was wasted on me.
nobookendinsight's review against another edition
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
holtfan's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars
A seriously challenging story of racism, mental health, and friendship. I'm torn between 4 and 5 stars. This book has the potential for greatness. The passage where Jerome talks about how you make friends resonated with me. A lot of this book resonated with me. It made me uncomfortable; it made me think.
But despite that, I do not think I can make it one of my 5 star reads, at least not at this point. The sports references lost me too often and I found myself skimming instead of reading whole sections. The story line and characters moved me but the words themselves often felt distracting.
Definitely one I will have to come back to someday.
A seriously challenging story of racism, mental health, and friendship. I'm torn between 4 and 5 stars. This book has the potential for greatness. The passage where Jerome talks about how you make friends resonated with me. A lot of this book resonated with me. It made me uncomfortable; it made me think.
But despite that, I do not think I can make it one of my 5 star reads, at least not at this point. The sports references lost me too often and I found myself skimming instead of reading whole sections. The story line and characters moved me but the words themselves often felt distracting.
Definitely one I will have to come back to someday.
scaifea's review against another edition
4.0
Two boys, both with issues of their own, become friends over the game of basketball, but one of them may be too troubled to be saved by the other.
And intense and touching story that had me rooting for both boys.
And intense and touching story that had me rooting for both boys.