Name: Booked
Rating: 4.6 (129 reviews)
ISBN: 9780544787711

- $8.99

In this electric follow-up to Newbery Medal–winner The Crossover, soccer, family, love, and friendship take the field as twelve-year-old Nick learns the power of words as he wrestles with problems at home, stands up to a bully, and tries to impress the girl of his dreams.

Like lightning/you strike/fast and free/legs zoom/down field/eyes fixed/on the checkered ball/on the goal/ten yards to go/can’t nobody stop you/ can’t nobody cop you . . .

Nobody can stop Nick . . . at least not on the field. Off it is a different matter. But helping him along as he deals with bullies and problems at home are his best friend and sometimes teammate Coby, and The Mac, a rapping librarian who gives Nick inspiring books to read. This heartfelt novel-in-verse by poet Kwame Alexander bends and breaks as it captures all the thrills and setbacks, action and emotion of a World Cup match!

APPLE BOOKS REVIEW

Newbery Award-winner and YA phenomenon Kwame Alexander shoots and scores with his latest novel-in-verse, Booked. Nick is a brilliant, soccer-obsessed middle schooler coping with academics, a demanding father, a new crush, and his parents' marital problems. We loved Alexander's quick and witty poem-chapters, which left us feeling like exhilarated fans rooting for Nick from the sidelines. This amazingly insightful book may be aimed at the YA crowd, but its appeal is limitless.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY MAR 7, 2016

Alexander scores again with this sports-themed verse novel, a companion to his Newbery Medal winning The Crossover. Eighth grader Nick, a devoted soccer player and fan, enjoys some friendly competition with his best friend, Coby. What Nick doesn't like is words neither the ones in the dictionary that his linguistics professor father wrote (and is making him read) nor the ones he learns in his honors English class. But the school's quirky rapping librarian, Mr. Mac, helps Nick discover both a love of reading and a way to connect with the girl of his dreams. Alexander skillfully juggles verse styles to realistically capture Nick's humor and smarts (showcased in witty footnoted definitions of words like "cachinnate" and "mewling"), passion for soccer, and vulnerability when being bullied, having surgery, or facing his parents' troubled marriage. Emotionally resonant and with a pace like a player on a breakaway, Nick's story will have readers agreeing: "The poems/ were cool./ The best ones were/ like bombs,/ and when all the right words/ came together/ it was like an explosion./ So good, I/ didn't want it to end." Ages 10 12.

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