THE CONTENDER BY ROBERT LIPSYTE • The Contender is by American author and sports journalist Robert Lipsyte. It was published in 1967. • The book's plot centers on a black seventeen-year-old man named Alfred Brooks, a high school dropout living with Aunt Pearl and her three daughters in Harlem, NYC. He begins training at a boxing club as an alternative to drugs and gangs. • The novel follows Alfred as his friend James is arrested after robbing the grocery store where Alfred works at, and his confrontations with Major, the leader of the local gang, who is responsible for James' drug addiction. • Alfred, through a series of related events, learns that life is about more than fighting and winning; it is about being a contender. THE PIGMAN BY PAUL ZINDEL • John and Lorraine meet the Pigman by accident. They were making prank calls when they dialed Mr. Pignati's number. But that call turns into real friendship and they start hanging out with the elderly man who collects miniature pigs. • The unlikely trio share a bond that surpasses age differences; each one receiving something from the others that they lacked in their lives. • Zindel's novel is funny, but has many serious moments. It is a story with original characters and a believable, yet unpredictable, storyline. John and Lorraine's reflections on life and relationships will touch readers with their understanding and blunt realism. NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH BY AVI • • • • Through diary entries, personal letters, school memos and transcripts of dialogue, this book tells the story of an incident where a boy is suspended from school for humming the National Anthem. Philip Malloy is a track-obsessed ninth grader in New Hampshire. He blames his English teacher for his poor performance in her class, and he earns a D, making him ineligible for the track team. The number of class disturbances increases; he starts humming the national anthem when he's meant to stand "at silent, respectful attention.” As well as the effects of this story receiving national publicity. The main theme of the novel is the subjectivity of truth and that while individual statements may be true, taken separately they may not give an accurate picture of an event. ENDER’S GAME BY ORSON SCOTT CARD • • A military science fiction novel set in Earth's future, the novel presents an endangered mankind after two conflicts with the "buggers", an alien species. In preparation for an anticipated third invasion, children, including Ender, are trained from a very young age through increasingly difficult games including some in zero gravity, where Ender's tactical genius is revealed. • The book originated as the short story “Ender's Game", published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact. • Card released an updated version of Ender's Game in ‘91, changing some political facts to reflect the times more accurately (to include the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.) • It has become suggested reading for many military organizations, the U.S. Marines. LIFE OF PI BY YANN MARTEL • In India, Pi’s father owns a zoo. He's a Hindu from birth; then at fourteen he adds Catholicism to his repertoire; at fifteen he adds Islam. • Pi's parents decide to leave India. They sell most of the animals and pack up their belongings. They board, along with some of the animals they're selling to North America. • Unfortunately, the cargo ship wrecks; a solitary lifeboat remains. The only survivors from the wreck are Pi, a hyena, a wounded zebra, an orangutan – and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON BY DANIEL KEYS • Originally Flowers for Algernon was a sci-fi short story published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. • Algernon is a laboratory mouse who has undergone surgery to increase his intelligence by artificial means. The story is told by a series of progress reports written by Charlie Gordon, the first human test subject for the surgery, and it touches upon many different ethical and moral themes such as the treatment of the mentally disabled. Progris riport 1 martch 3 Dr Strauss says I shoud rite down what I think and remember and every thing that happins to me from now on. April 4– Miss Kinnian says Im learning fast. She read some of my progress reports…