Overview / 简介: |
| Joel dares his best friend, Tony, to a swimming race in a dangerous river. Both boys jump in, but when Joel reaches the sandbar, he finds Tony has vanished. How can he face their parents and the terrible truth? |
From Organization / 国外机构评价: |
| Grade 4-6 Twelve-year-old Joel has unwillingly agreed to bike out to the state park with his daredevil friend Tony. "On his honor," he promises his father to be careful, knowing that Tony wants them to climb the dangerous park bluffs. When they arrive, however, Tony abruptly changes his mind and heads for the river. With his promise jangling in his mind, Joel follows Tony in for a swim. Tony drowns in the dirty, turbulent water, leaving Joel to face his guilty conscience, and his father, alone. In this short but solid novel, Bauer effectively portrays the dilemma of pre-adolescents, old enough to want to meet their own challenges without adult interference, young enough to want grownup protection and reassurance. Joel understands only too well the moral dilemma he faces, but he is so bound by peer pressure that wrong choices and tragedy are almost inevitable. Bauer's association of Joel's guilt with the smell of the polluted river on his skin is particularly noteworthy. Its miasma almost rises off the pages. Descriptions are vivid, characterization and dialogue natural, and the style taut but unforced. A powerful, moving book. Barbara Hutcheson, Greater Victoria Public Library, Canada |
Foreign Customer Review / 国外客户评价: |
| Rating: four stars.
This book is going to be read to my son's 5th grade class, so I thought I'd read it before I gave the ok for my son to sit in. It is quite an emotional read, but I think, for ages around 9 or 10 and up (pre-adolescent), it's absolutely appropriate! It deals with peer pressure, lying, and guilt among other things, and hopefully will make these indestructible-thinking kids realize that "it CAN happen to me" and not give in to the pressures that go along with these ages, especially among boys. You don't have to do something just because "I DARE YOU!".
Except for the use of the word he**, there was no inappropriate language and, no, the re was *NOT* a detailed account of the boy's drowning. I'm not quite sure where that came from. The "beat his friend to a bloody pulp if he was hiding somewhere", put into context, is a boy feeling nervous/scared/angry when he can't find his friend, suspects the worst and would be furious if he's (the friend) actually just hiding and trying to pull a prank. Given the fact these boys are 12, the words used are quite mild.
I'm sure this subject matter is uncomfortable for some kids (and, obviously adults as well). Unfortunately, peer pressure is a FACT OF LIFE that has to be dealt with. Overall, I'd recommend this book. Read it first before you read it (or allow your child to read it) and then decide. |
About the Author / 作者介绍: |
| Marion Dane Bauer is the author of more than eighty books for young people, ranging from novelty and picture books through early readers, both fiction and nonfiction, books on writing, and middle-grade and young-adult novels. She has won numerous awards, including several Minnesota Book Awards, a Jane Addams Peace Association Award for RAIN OF FIRE, an American Library Association Newbery Honor Award for ON MY HONOR, a number of state children's choice awards and the Kerlan Award from the University of Minnesota for the body of her work.
She is also the editor of and a contributor to the ground-breaking collection of gay and lesbian short stories, Am I Blue? Coming Out from the Silence.
Marion was one of the founding faculty and the first Faculty Chair for the Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her writing guide, the American Library Association Notable WHAT'S YOUR STORY? A YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO WRITING FICTION, is used by writers of all ages. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen different languages.
She has six grandchildren and lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her partner and a cavalier King Charles spaniel, Dawn. |
 |
报告错误、缺书登记 |
如果您发现关于本书的任何错误，请点这里报告。
如果您在本站没有发现您想要的书，想要团购这本书，或者有其他方面的意见、建议，请点这里留言，
我们将认真考虑您的要求。
|
| 上传内页照片或者 mp3 音频 |
如果您有本书内页的图片，或者有语音的 mp3, 安妮非常感谢您登录后上传，与全体会员分享！
|
京公网安备11010802030648号