Contender, The by Lipsyte, Robert Reviewed by Diana , age 14 The Contender In the book, The Contender, the main character is Alfred he is African American he hangs out with a group of friends that are a really bad influence to him. He lives in a neighborhood where gang and drugs are the main thing around the year 1960. His friends do illegal drugs and other illegal things that are not supposed to be done, like breaking into stores. Alfred passes through much discrimination and racism. Because of all that is happening to him, he decides to be a boxer to learn how to fight and defend himself from other gang members, even his own friends. The boxing manager tells him that first he needs to learn how to be contender, not only in boxing but in life too. After Alfred has had a few fights, he has learned that life in more than just living it by the minute that you have to plan your future. Alfred had a really close friend that has a big problem with drug addiction and gang violence. Even though James isn’t a really good friend to Alfred and doesn’t appreciate what Alfred is trying to do for him, Alfred still decides to help James. There were many conflicts in the book but one of the main one was a conflict with a guy named Major who used to be Alfred’s “friend.” Major got mad at Alfred because he didn’t warn them about an alarm before his gang broke into a store. Major sees all the changes that Alfred has gone through and tries to bring him back down to where he had started at. This book is really realistic and the author made me visualize the things in my head very well. At timed I felt like I was in Alfred’s situation and I felt exactly what Alfred. I suggest that everyone read this but especially those who are heading in a wrong direction in their life. It’s a great book and I’m sure that anyone who reads it will love it! By:Robert Lipsyte Other reviews of this book were also done by: Rusty, age 14 Ariel , age 14 Tess, age 14 Alisha, age 14 Peter , age 13 Jamiel, age 14 Peter , age 13 Halleigh, age 13 Jeanette, age 13 Alex, age 13 Jeanette, age 13 zack, age 14 Karla , age 14 Jeanette, age 13 Junior , age 15 Vanessa, age 15 Zack, age 14 amber, age 14 Perla, age 13 Caitlyn, age 13 Jesus, age 14 Joey, age 14 Jennifer, age 14 Joey, age 14 Jesus, age 14 chris, age 14 Priscilla, age 13 Cristal, age 14 Hector, age 13 Shy, age 13 Andy, age 13 Beatriz, age 14 Tyler, age 14 Cameron, age 14 rodrick, age 14 jacquez, age 14 Anaise, age 14 Ashley, age 13 Delvon, age 14 randy, age 15 Armando, age 13 Angel, age 14 zack, age 15 cristian, age 13 ivy, age 13 Ivan, age 14 TOMAS, age 13 Gaby, age 14 Laura, age 13 luis, age 14 Jonathan , age 13 Hannah, age 14 Lucero, age 14 Haley , age 13 tabitha , age 14 Briana, age 14 christopher, age 14 Bobbie, age 14 oscar , age 59 jose, age 14 Daniel , age 14 Gabriel, age 14 juan, age 14 Carolina, age 14 Chris, age 14 Heather, age 14 jake, age 14 Brea, age 13 Dustin, age 13 Jessica, age 13 mary, age 14 Dustin, age 0 Jessica, age 0 Edwin, age 0 Christian, age 0 Samuel, age 0 Curtis, age 0 Elizabeth, age 0 Christian, age 14 Ashleigh, age 14 curtis, age 15 Elizabeth, age 14 Efrain, age 14 Carlos , age 14 Samuel, age 14 Kaley, age 13 Whitney, age 15 Kaley, age 14

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