Amazing Grace

Fourth Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol. Harper Perennial, 1996. Genre: Biography


Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol is a novel about the lives of people especially children in the South Bronx, New York. Kozol interviews people who tell them about there lives and others. Kozol gets information about the people affected by AIDS and also the other tragedies that happen in the South Bronx like children getting kill in a shootout. Jonathan Kozol shows the side to poverty that most of the privileged class people in America don’t know about. He also tells about inequality issues, health care problems, and educational shortcomings.

“Kozol reminds us that, with each casualty, part of the beauty of the world is extinguished, because these are children of intelligence and humor, of poetic insight and luminous faith. Amazing Grace is written in a gentle and measured tone, but you will wonder at the end, with Kozol, why the God of love does not return to earth with his avenging sword in hand.” – Barbara Ehrenreich


Amazing Grace isn’t just for teachers who want to describe what other places are like in the world, this book is for everyone. The words are not difficult to understand; Kozol comes out and just says it he doesn’t use many metaphors or beat around the bush. Even though that it is easy to understand it doesn’t take away from the emotions he makes you feel. Amazing Grace makes you go up and down like a yo-yo with emotions. You always feel sad for the children in South Bronx but I also felt happy when sone of the children did something incredible. Kozol is the one who interviews all of the people in the South Bronx so what he writes is heartfelt and honest.

“The trouble with miracles, however is that they don’t happen for most children; and a good society cannot be built on miracles or on the likelihood that they will keep occurring. There is also a degree of danger that, in emphasizing these unusual relationships and holding up for praise the very special children who can take advantage of them, without making it clear how rare these situations are, we may see to be condemning those who don’t have opportunities like these or, if they do, cannot respond to them” (160).

I really enjoyed reading Amazing Grace, Kozol has a way of writing that you feel for the kids in South Bronx. I had to read Amazing Grace for a club I am in at school, I thought it was going to be a boring book but once I started reading it I couldn’t believe how good it was. I will most likely read more of his work in the future because I loved this one.

The Rescue

Second Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks. Grand Central Publishing, 2000. Genre: Romantic Fiction

The Rescue is about a volunteer fireman named Taylor McAden and a single mother named Denise Holton who live in a small town in North Carolina. Both meet each other during a terrible storm and start a relationship, although this makes Taylor open up and talk about his life that has been locked up inside him for years. This makes Taylor choose to make the biggest commitment of all; to fall in love with someone.

“Sparks, who is becoming well known as a sophisticated writer of romances, has a beautifully natural way of portraying a complicated and intense love story. THE RESCUE is yet another example of his imagination and skill.” – South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)

The Rescue shows Nicholas Sparks telling about men with problems not just the women. We get to see it from both of the main characters sides, Taylor’s and Denise’s. We get to see how their past affects their choices, and Nicholas Sparks writes with strong passion when we see it through the two main characters eyes. Even though this is the first book I read by Nicholas Sparks I saw the movie called The Notebook, which was a book written by Sparks. The Notebook reminds me of The Rescue because of the setting and the passionate love story.

In The Rescue you get to see how some love is complicated and not always a fairy tale. Nicholas Sparks shows people who are afraid to fall in love because they don’t want to hurt anyone. We see that women aren’t the only ones who have problems in their past and women aren’t the only ones to not open up to someone.

I am now a huge fan of Nicholas Sparks after reading this book. I love how Sparks doesn’t make this love story sappy as some other authors do. This showed me what struggles people go through to fall in love because real life isn’t like Cinderella. I really enjoyed the way he writes The Rescue because I would think it would be the woman in the book, Denise who would have the problems to fall in love, but it is really the man, Taylor who does. I am definitely going to read more books by Nicholas Sparks and hope they are as good as or better than The Rescue.

The Lost Boy

First Quarter Reading Book Review

The Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer. Health Communications, Inc., 1997. Genre: Autobiography

The Lost Boy, Dave Pelzer’s sequel to A Child Called “It”, is about Dave who is in foster care and the struggles he goes through. The story takes place in San Francisco, California area, mainly in Daly City.

John Bradshaw states, “The Lost Boy stands as the premier book on the unique love and dedication that social services and foster families provide for our children in peril. Dave Pelzer is certainly a living testament of resilience, personal responsibility and the triumph of the human spirit.”

The Lost Boy explains what Dave Pelzer goes through in foster care, and the rollercoaster ride his like takes. Dave tells about his different foster homes and searching for love. Dave is around age 12 through 18 during this book. The Lost Boy is the sequel to A Child Called “It”. Both books talk about his life and his experiences. What Dave goes through in The Lost Boy doesn’t seem half as bad as what his mother puts him through in A Child Called “It”. In The Lost Boy, no one hurts David to the extent that his mother did. This book discusses his life in foster care and how sometimes it is the best thing for some people.

“I could feel my Mother’s radar drill through me. I felt myself leaning to the right, a surge of fear creeping up my back. I took another whiff of Ms. Gold’s perfume.

I held my breath for a fleeting second, then before my courage disappeared I blurted out, “You sir! I want to live with you! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to tell! I didn’t mean to cause any trouble!” (72)

I really enjoyed The Lost Boy probably because I read A Child Called ‘It” before, and I found I couldn’t put the book down. I would like to read more of Dave’s books just to see what happens in the end for Dave. From The Lost Boy I realized I have a really good life. I have two parents, who are still together, and I am surrounded by love of friends and family. It helped me understand that I shouldn’t get upset if I can’t do something or I have to do this or that. Some people don’t even get to see their parents or they are abused by their parents.