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
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•
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…