Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Imagine being nicknamed Crash. Now, imagine you got that name because when you were five you tackled your little cousin into a snow bank. This is the situation in Crash by Jerry Spinelli. This is a wonderful book that I greatly enjoyed. While I was reading, my favorite character had to definitely be John "Crash" Coogan. He was the reason I kept reading this book. The pranks he did as a young child were just, hilarious. For example, the time he first met Penn Webb, his Quaker neighbor, Webb had just moved from North Dakota and was wearing a button that said, "Hi, I'm a Flickertail." Webb explained how the Flickertail was the state bird in North Dakota, and Crash just ripped the button right off his shirt and buried the button. The next day, Webb was wearing another button. This time the button said, "Peace." Once again, Crash, tore the button right off his shirt and buried the button. On that same day, Crash also took Penn's turtle for a ride on his bike. Penn did not like that too, too much. Penn showed Crash his one toy-a raggedy, old Conestoga wagon. Crash thought that that was ridiculous, a kid with only one toy, and he laughed about the whole idea of having just one toy. Then, for dinner, they ate oatburgers. Being Quakers, of course, they were vegetarians. Crash didn't even know what a vegetarian was; he made fun of the whole family for being vegetarians. I find that to be the way kids really are, too. Those are just some of the events that occurred in the beginning that made me want to continue to read the book. I wanted to find out what happened to Penn and Crash as they began to grow older and go to school, where other kids might also find Penn a little weird because he was a Quaker. This was exactly what happened to Penn, especially, when Crash met his newest neighbor, Mike. Those two together treated Penn horribly, but the pranks went too far. Towards the end of the book, Mike and Crash start to veer away from each other. All the pranks pulled are another reason why I found this book to be so interesting. I never saw this coming, but Crash and Penn actually ended up as best friends because Mike took a prank too far, and Crash didn't like that idea. Those are just a few of the reasons why I felt that Crash was my favorite character, and he helped me to continue reading this wonderful book. Not only was Crash great, but I also like the way the author set up this book. He made the story very realistic with how the kids treated each other and how they grew up. I know when I was growing up, if a kid was different, like Penn Webb was, everyone made fun of him. As a matter of fact, some people my age 17 still do that. The time Crash went over Penn's house for dinner, and he basically made fun of Penn for everything he did. Which is another reason why I like the book so much. I liked the book for its realism, as much as I liked the book for its action. Although I do think Jerry Spinelli did take the book a little too far when he made Penn Webb and Crash Coogan best friends at the end. I don't think that Mike and Crash would have separated that much, to not even be friends anymore. Overall, the book Crash was very well set up and very realistic, but the book still had a lot of action. This is a wonderful book that I greatly enjoyed. I would definitely want to read other stories by Jerry Spinelli. He seems to be a great writer and knows what he is writing about. I would recommend this book to a little younger age level than I, maybe 14-15, but the story was great and could be enjoyed by anyone that wants to read the book Crash.
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