Dairy Queen reviewed by Kaitlin Kimbrell

DAIRY QUEEN

By: Catherine Gilbert Murdock



For D.J. life is quiet and simple. Get up and work on the farm, do what her father says, go to school, and nothing much else. While this was all until Brian Nelson got into trouble and had to come help on the farm or get kicked off the football team and D.J. decided she wanted to play football like her brothers did. She figured why not, she was just as strong and fast (if not stronger and faster) then most of the guys on the team. D.J. believed that she could do it and lead the team all the way and maybe fall in love along the way. First though, she is going to have to break out of her shell, start talking about what is wrong, and get advice she doesn't want from people she doesn't really like. Will doing just that ruin any chances of her  getting on the team and living her dream? Read and find out!

I really enjoyed this book because it was inspirational and actually taught me a lot about the person I can be. The fact that D.J. was able to achieve all she wanted and even get more then she bargained for lifted my spirits and made me want to try just as hard as she did for what I want. I think that reading this book might inspire you to do something that you never thought you would be able to. Maybe, just maybe you will find your voice just where you have been needing to use it.

High Heat – a rewiew by Mario Cordova Salcido

High Heat by Carl Deuker

*** stars

High Heat is about Shane he plays baseball, he has a very fancy house and he goes to a very fancy school too, everything is going very good in his life until his dad killed himself. This was a very hard moment for all thefamily for Shane, for Marian and for their mom. So the try to carry on but of course they lost a lot luxuries about their life.

Shane changed to a public high school so do Marian too, but Shane keeps playing baseball and then he realizedthat the world doesn't stop because you are suffering, he realized that you have to carry on. One day Shone was throwing because he was a closer and he hit to Reese on his head and he was very sad but later the became friends again.

Shane was the one that bought his old house, so at the end of the story Shane faced to Reese again in a baseballgame and Shane strike out to Chris with a 91 mph fastball. Also Shane was called to get a scholarship in a college so the family was very happy by Shane.

I liked this book but really I was expecting other kind of end because it was like the same in all the book, it was goodbut I think it could be better with other kind of ending. I liked the baseball theme but maybe the book need to have more fun stuff, like funny stories or something like that, but it was a good book.

Yellow Flag -- Review by Chase Scott

Yellow Flag

by: Robert Lipsyte

3* rating

Genre-School Stories, Adventure, and Sports

Kyle Hildebrand is a teenager in the high school band. Kyle's family is a family of racers. Kyle's grandpa, Sir Walter, was a Nascar legend, and his dad was also a big name racer. After Sir Walter retired and and his dad got hurt in a race, Hilebrand Racing wasnt making very much money. Now Kris, Kyle's brother, is trying to bring Hildebrand Racing back by getting a sponsor in the next big race. Kyle however never got into racing like the rest of his family and would rather play in his band. Kyle has a masters class for his band he wants to go to but his dad tells him that he cant go because Kris' normal spotter is in the hospital. Kyle is not happy but agrees to go even after getting lectured from his band coach. Kris plans on doing a move called the sling in this race and needs Kyle to help him through it so in the last lap Kyle tells him when to go and it wins Kris the race. A green car ,that Kris passed, angrily bumped the back of Kris and mad his car flip right after he crossed the finish line.Kris seems alright but the next morning Kris passes out and they find out he has a concussion. Now Kyle is forced to race in his brothers place and is then faced with the situation on wheather he wants to stick with his band or help his family and take over for his brother.

This book is a good read and is entertaining even if your not into racing. Robert Lipsyte did a good job of keeping it simple and easy to understand even if you dont know to much about racing. I would recommend this book if you enjoy a quick fun read.

Gym Candy -- a review by Jorge Belcher

Gym Candy

Author: Carl Deuker

**** stars

A young man named Mick Johnson grows up in the shadow of his burnt out father, a former NFL running back. As a freshman in high school he works his way up to varsity running back, but one district game ruined his career forever. That lost game had Mick thinking hard and deep about himself being “not good enough”. Mick has the ultimate let down when his coach retires and leaves the janitor as head coach. He asks himself if he’s the reason they lost, or if coach left. Mick at this point has struggles at school and finds the hardest heart break at home. Mick finds out the truth of why his dad was “let go” of the NFL chargers team. With his new knowledge Mick questions his skills of if he’s fast enough, strong enough, tough enough, and quick enough unlike his father. He gets his answer one day in the locker room from one of his teammates. He reminds him of what happened to them as freshman and if he wanted to be better than that line backer who stopped him. This leads Mick to the unthinkable; he begins to lean away from his work ethics and more into the other stuff offered in the gym. You ask what this other stuff is read to find out in Gym Candy by Carl Deuker.

This book sparked my interest a lot for many reasons for one; it was an easy read, not too hard to follow and the added suspense had me reading extra pages at home to find deeper information in the story. I do suggest this book to those who are athletes, because it shows the risk and rewards to those who are willing to do life altering things. This book was amazingly entertaining the sports genre really catches the athlete’s attention. The reason I gave this book a four star review was because it was a balanced book, with many attention grabbers. Overall the writer Carl Deuker did a great job.

Cruise Control -- a review by Miles Womack

Cruise Control

By Terry Trueman

**** stars

Paul is the main character in my book. Paul and his family live in Queen Anne Hill in Seattle. He lives with his sister, his mom and his brother Shawn. His brother Shawn Is mentally challenged but they still all go to the same high school together so basically Paul has to deal with him every day. Besides Paul’s brother being a so called veg. he is a normal student but he is a very good athlete and is on the basketball team which has a great potential of going to state this year. Paul’s old man who isn’t around left when he was little because there were a lot of problems that you must read to find out. But either way he hates his dad with a passion find out if it ever gets worse or gets any better. Shawn on the other hand is basically worthless to Paul all he does is sit there and have his seizures and yell all day and sleep. So Paul has a hard time with his emotions with his brother. He has nearly killed people for talking about his brother so I’m sure you can see that he has anger problems except when he is on the basketball court he forgets everything. Now if you want to find out all the good details and the problems in the story read Cruise Control by Terry Trueman.

This book is a good book to read if you like the suspense and wonder of the story. So I gave the book 4 stars. The genre of the book is including sports, friends and school stories, and funny to me. Then I would recommend this book to others because it is overall a good book to read. Last is the companion of this book is Stuck In Neutral.

High Heat - a review by Mario Cordova Salcido

High Heat

by Carl Deuker

*** stars

High Heat is about Shane, he plays baseball, he has a very luxury house and he goes to a very luxury school too, everything is going very good in his life until his dad suicided because he was involved in drugs. This was a very hard moment for all the family, for Shane, for Marian and for his mom. So they just continued living their lives without him, that was hard because they lost a lot luxuries in their life, of course is very hard for children to lose their dad, and for a wife to lose to her husband.

Shane changed to a public high school so did Marian too, but Shane continued playing baseball, then he realized that the world doesn't stop because you are suffering, he realized that you have to carry on. One day Shane was playing with his baseball team, he was a pitcher a closer to be exact, he was not having a good time because he was sad about his dad, Shane had a lot of questions about the suicide. Reese was hitting, Reese's family had bought Shane's old luxury home.

Shane hit him on the head by accident but a lot of people thought it was on purpose.

After that Shane could not throw hard again because he was nervous when he was facing to the hitters. Later when Reese was cured saw to Shane again in a baseball game, they talked and they started training baseball together, Reese just wanted to hit against Shane again because he was not doing so well after that bad pitch. At the end of the story Shane faced Reese again in a baseball game and Shane did a strike out to Reese with a 91 mph fastball. They were friends again like the old times, also Shane was called to get a scholarship in a college so his mom and Marian were very happy for him.

I was expecting an other kind of end because it was like the same facts through the history, Shane was talking about his games again and again that was good at the beginning but after it was a kind of boring. The book was a little bit sad I think because the beginning was very shocking because when everything seemed fine and then the suicide of the dad, I think that fact was very quick like just at the beginning of the book; High Heat was a good book but maybe it need like more funny stuff like funny histories or something like that.

On the Devil's Court -- a review by Bryce Foster

On The Devil’s Court

by Carl Deuker

***** Stars

“My heart was racing. I heard a clap of thunder and raindrops pounded on the metal roof. The gym grew darker and a strange mist seemed to fill it. An eerie thought came to me: the mist somehow held the devil.

I didn't want to fall under its spell so I dribbled once and took a jump shot. It was so perfect that the spin on the ball carried it right back into my hands. I shot again and back the ball came. A third, then a fourth.. I knew it couldn't be just me shooting … With each shot the mist thickened.. A seventh, and eighth… It was an incredible feeling, to be able to do it all so effortlessly. I think that's why I made the vow.”

This is a tale of a seventeen-year senior, Joe Faust. He is a good student with the occasional C, but his father is scientist and expects Joe to get all A’s to get into prestige University. Joe and his father are described very differently from each other. Joe mentions his Father is a genus who didn’t have to try hard to get A’s while Joe struggles to get a B. Joe’s mother on the other hand is an artist. She is most famous from her portraits of the male figure. The first thing Joe mentions of his interest is basketball. He tells us that he always loves the game and that he is a shooting guard. He goes to the courts near his house and when he gets there he arrives early. He sees there are guys his own age shortly after he gets there. After waiting for someone to get hurt so he could get in. He shows his talents and meets one of the best players at Loyal High. This is where Joe wants to attend his last year of high school, instead of a private school. So after playing a few games, the best player at loyal asks where Joe was going to school. When he heard Joe was going to the same school Ross (the best player) took him under his wing. They played on the same team almost every day. He hung out with Ross so much his parents wanted to meet him. Joe was afraid that they would judge him, so he tried to avoid conversations of Ross and him. Throughout the book, Joe talks about basketball and this book his father gave him. The book his father gave to him was rather strange… Although Joe was excited about going to Loyal High, it turns out he doesn’t think it was all what it was suppose to be. He even losses his talent shooting. This is when he gets desperate and follows the strange book. One Stormy Afternoon he makes a decision to sell his soul for a perfect season. After, He shoots around and can’t miss a shot, he is stunned and questions if this is reality.

During the season, he realizes the magnitude of his decision and at the end wants to know if he really sold his soul. The question is, did he really sell his soul or was it in his mind?

I really enjoyed reading this novel. If you are into sports, especially basketball, I would read this book or the many other sport books by Carl Deuker. I felt that the author had an excellent understanding of the terminology of basketball. In my opinion, I could really put my feet into his shoes because I know how much basketball means to me.

Although, what I didn’t like was the thought of giving my soul for an outstanding year of basketball.

Important quote: “Give me a full season of power, and my soul is yours.”

Bryce Foster