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justcrystalxo's review
5.0
great book. i would have liked to have read this in high school. the whole book is just so real and so true. the teacher mr. wardin reminded me of my most favorite teacher.. (which was pretty much disliked by everyone else) he was in fact one of those TRUE teachers that are so hard to comeby nowadays. a really good read!
quinetta's review
1.0
Preface, I didn’t read this book but I can guarantee this white man wrote from a place of having limited interaction with only a very small segment of the black community. Just the brief synopsis on the back of the books shows he lacks true understanding of black culture as a whole or part and attempts to explain it to others - like the blind leading the blind. Do not suggest this book to any young reader for there are far more well written books that are written by black people that would be a better option. You don’t need to read a book by someone who put on literary blackface to sell a book about something he knows nothing about and couldn’t even be bothered to do any research to make it sound half way convincing.
arisbookcorner's review
2.0
IQ "I looked away, avoiding that type of soul-to-soul eye contact a person can make when they look to deeply into another person's eyes." Tee, pg. 264
I'd read this book years ago but never reviewed it so I decided to re-read it and while I'm not putting this up on the blog (yet) I did want to include some thoughts here. I preferred The Hoopster since I found this book to be preachy regarding the pros and cons of applying to college (and maybe that can't be helped when writing about the college admissions process), the difficulties students of less-privileged backgrounds have when it comes to finding actual college admissions guidance. Furthermore I had to suspend my disbelief at the ending of the book regarding college choices although depending on when the author wrote the book perhaps scoring was different? I'm not sure.
While the story could be unbearably heavy handed at times, there were a few amusing gems sprinkled throughout that managed to combine what we learn in school with what we learn in the real world, "Do people even know that one cannot 'hate on' another person without being in violation of about thirty-six rules of grammar?" (Mr. Wardin, 343). The author seems to have a clear and firm grasp of the world he's chosen to write about and he dos not belittle or victimize his characters, nor make them simply angry. Theresa (or Tee) is struggling to find the happy-medium by balancing the lives of those she sees around with those she sees on TV, "The question is, what happens if you don't get there? Does it have to be a minimum-wage job at the supermarket collecting shopping carts", (pg. 305). This echoes the lack of options students are being taught that they have, there is a medium to the two extremes when it comes to careers. Anyway you will fly through this book and enjoy Theresa's observations of life and connect with her difficulties in high school that transcend race and class.
I'd read this book years ago but never reviewed it so I decided to re-read it and while I'm not putting this up on the blog (yet) I did want to include some thoughts here. I preferred The Hoopster since I found this book to be preachy regarding the pros and cons of applying to college (and maybe that can't be helped when writing about the college admissions process), the difficulties students of less-privileged backgrounds have when it comes to finding actual college admissions guidance. Furthermore I had to suspend my disbelief at the ending of the book regarding college choices although depending on when the author wrote the book perhaps scoring was different? I'm not sure.
While the story could be unbearably heavy handed at times, there were a few amusing gems sprinkled throughout that managed to combine what we learn in school with what we learn in the real world, "Do people even know that one cannot 'hate on' another person without being in violation of about thirty-six rules of grammar?" (Mr. Wardin, 343). The author seems to have a clear and firm grasp of the world he's chosen to write about and he dos not belittle or victimize his characters, nor make them simply angry. Theresa (or Tee) is struggling to find the happy-medium by balancing the lives of those she sees around with those she sees on TV, "The question is, what happens if you don't get there? Does it have to be a minimum-wage job at the supermarket collecting shopping carts", (pg. 305). This echoes the lack of options students are being taught that they have, there is a medium to the two extremes when it comes to careers. Anyway you will fly through this book and enjoy Theresa's observations of life and connect with her difficulties in high school that transcend race and class.
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