Booked review by Bj Allanah

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Booked by Kwame Alexander was published on April 5, 2016. The book revolves around the main character Nick Hall, a twelve-year-old eighth-grader who loves to play soccer but absolutely hates reading books. The reason for this is that his dad is a linguistic professor whom Nick can't really understand. His dad also makes Nick read his own authored dictionary every day, which over time built up this hatred for reading. Nick shows a strong relationship with his mom who loves to play ping pong, and his best friend Coby, who shares the same ideologies as him. Nick and Coby are constantly targeted by twin bullies Dean and Don Eggleston, who give them never-ending amounts of grief. When Nick plans to go to a soccer tournament in Dallas, he must skip it due to a perforated appendix.  While in the hospital, he hears his mom is coming back home, and he believes his parents are getting back together. When things seem to get normal, he finds out his parents are getting a divorce. Nick needs to figure out how to navigate his parents' divorce and stand up to the twin bullies until his life continues to go downhill.

What I like about this book is how relatable it is. Although I can't relate to how he gets bullied, I also have a big passion for soccer like he does. The book shows how someone at his age would deal with all the stress he has in his life which is what I like as well. Also, the book gives a valid reason as to why he doesn't like reading books, and the relationship between Nick and his father is shown in this way. I feel that making him get injured before the soccer tournament was good for the story as the author was able to give me some more information about his mother. However, one issue I had was that the information on her was not enough. The only thing I can truly pinpoint to her is that she loves playing ping pong.

In conclusion, I enjoyed reading the book as I can relate to the main character in a way and everything except Nick's mom is detailed excellently in my opinion. My overall rating for the book would be 9.3, as personal bias plays a  big role in my rating.

Comments

  1. Daniel LeeFebruary 3, 2024 at 2:52 PM

    Hi Bj! Great blog! I've been interested to read this book a few months ago, but I've never brought myself to read the book. I really like how you were able to personally connect with Nick when it comes to your passion for soccer. Great stuff Bj!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnthonyFebruary 4, 2024 at 8:27 AM

    Hello Bj! I see you've had an interest in Kwame Alexander's books (one of your other blogs was on Solo). I might have to check some of his books out. Thanks for the amazing review!

    ReplyDelete
  3. WillFebruary 4, 2024 at 6:05 PM

    I really like kwame alexander and this book is really good. if you haven't already, i would suggest reading rebound and crossover.

    ReplyDelete
  4. SamuelFebruary 5, 2024 at 11:02 AM

    Hi Bj! I like how you described Kwame's Work and I will surely check him out sometime! Great blog!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yuto InoueFebruary 5, 2024 at 1:27 PM

    Hello Bj. When I saw the cover of the book as well as the intro to your post, I thought the book would be based around Nick and his journey in soccer (I guess it still kind of those even though he gets injured). I think mixing the sports aspect to family relationships help make an impact to the reader, as sports are often very intense (and in this case tragic). I think I might read this sometime in the future and have enjoyed your blog.

    ReplyDelete

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