Scan barcode
thebrainlair's review against another edition
3.0
The story itself was good. I even liked the comic portion where Kenny imagined himself as Stainlezz Steel. I just don't remember when "urban" became African-American and every speaks slang. For someone like Kenny, who goes straight home, read extensively, doesn't watch television, I'm not sure where he'd become so fluent. I didn't mind most of it, but I felt it was over the top - especially when he talked about learning to "mack" on gir
msmolly27's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not sure how this book will go over in my school. Written from the perspective of an inner sixth grader, the experiences of the characters will be relatable, but the language will not. My students don't use the slang that Kenny uses and I'm not sure if they have the life experience to figure it out. (I asked a couple of my students, of different races, to read a couple of passages to confirm my suspicion.)
There are also a lot of pop culture references that will render this book out of date fairly quickly.
I think this book may be a real hit in city schools, particularly in Washington DC where it's set, but it's going to be less successful in smaller cities or rural areas.
There are also a lot of pop culture references that will render this book out of date fairly quickly.
I think this book may be a real hit in city schools, particularly in Washington DC where it's set, but it's going to be less successful in smaller cities or rural areas.
not_mike's review against another edition
5.0
Patterson surprised me here. It's a touching, coming-of-age story based in Washington D.C's culture.
katscove's review against another edition
5.0
Kenny is facing a lot of battles. Between being picked on and the constant changing of his school's principal, Kenny has to choose which battles to fight and how he's going to fight them. Will he be able to keep his integrity intact?
lynburn's review against another edition
4.0
I am a huge James Patterson fan, so while I was waiting on a book to be available from the library, I thought I would check out this one for kids. I'm always looking for books to recommend to my teenaged son. And while this one may be for kids a little younger, it was definitely a good, easy read with great themes of acceptance, citizenship, honor and respect. Very enjoyable!
jmanchester0's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not sure what to think. I liked the story. Thus the 4 stars.
But I couldn't help but wonder about a middle aged white man writing from the perspective of a black inner city kid. Then I saw he had a co-writer! Oh. A slightly younger white dude. So where'd they get the perspective from? He was asked this by Mommy Noire. This was the question and how he responded:
The book is about an African American sixth-grade chess devotee named Kenny Wright who lives in an inner city...and you're not. How did you capture this witty kid and his voice?
I'm also not a teenage girl with wings, but I managed to do OK while writing Maximum Ride. Part of my job as a writer is to explore characters and worlds that are different from my own. I'd visited many schools where African-American students would ask me when I was going to write about them, so I felt it was important for me to explore the Kenny Wright's world.
Kudos to Patterson for wanting to write a book that included an oft-overlooked perspective. In fact, he donated 100,000 of these books to under-resourced libraries. According a press release, he was "moved to make this donation after recognizing a large and underserved community of children who don't see themselves portrayed in dynamic, entertaining stories often enough."
That's good. But I'm just starting to become aware of the problem with white people telling the stories of people of color. I can't figure out if the representation of the characters is really accurate - because, well, I don't have that perspective either. It's not that I merely crave authenticity in my children's books. But when we write from someone else's perspective, we need to make sure it's real. Especially when we're writing about a minority, and we're writing it from a privileged perspective.
But I couldn't help but wonder about a middle aged white man writing from the perspective of a black inner city kid. Then I saw he had a co-writer! Oh. A slightly younger white dude. So where'd they get the perspective from? He was asked this by Mommy Noire. This was the question and how he responded:
The book is about an African American sixth-grade chess devotee named Kenny Wright who lives in an inner city...and you're not. How did you capture this witty kid and his voice?
I'm also not a teenage girl with wings, but I managed to do OK while writing Maximum Ride. Part of my job as a writer is to explore characters and worlds that are different from my own. I'd visited many schools where African-American students would ask me when I was going to write about them, so I felt it was important for me to explore the Kenny Wright's world.
Kudos to Patterson for wanting to write a book that included an oft-overlooked perspective. In fact, he donated 100,000 of these books to under-resourced libraries. According a press release, he was "moved to make this donation after recognizing a large and underserved community of children who don't see themselves portrayed in dynamic, entertaining stories often enough."
That's good. But I'm just starting to become aware of the problem with white people telling the stories of people of color. I can't figure out if the representation of the characters is really accurate - because, well, I don't have that perspective either. It's not that I merely crave authenticity in my children's books. But when we write from someone else's perspective, we need to make sure it's real. Especially when we're writing about a minority, and we're writing it from a privileged perspective.
voya_k's review against another edition
5.0
The hero of this book is scared that his grandma will find out that he stole a bag of Takis.
SOMEBODY HAS BEEN HANGING OUT WITH ACTUAL CHILDREN.
SOMEBODY HAS BEEN HANGING OUT WITH ACTUAL CHILDREN.
More...