Contender, The by Lipsyte, Robert Reviewed by Jennifer, age 14 The Contender by: Robert Lipsyte “Remember what you said that night… about being a… a contender?” Alfred said this to Mr. Donatelli when he told Alfred that it was time to retire from boxing. This is a good quote because Donatelli wanted Alfred to retire and Alfred didn’t know if he was a contender. This book is about a sixteen year old boy named Alfred. In the beginning he doesn’t know what he wants in life until he meets Mr. Donatelli. Donatelli is a boxing manager. He talks to Alfred about being a boxer and becoming a contender. Then Alfred starts thinking if that was something he wanted to do. The main character is Alfred Brooks. He is sixteen living with his aunt because his parents died. The story takes place mainly in Harlem, NY. It some what takes place in different buildings around New York, but in the streets there is always something going down. The author did very well in writing this book. There are a lot of flashbacks, like Alfred would be sitting down somewhere and he would think of what went on that day or what people had said to him, and it would just all come together. The author also uses a good amount of metaphors and similes. I didn’t like how the book ended, I feel it should end in a different way. The book has a lot of conflicts. Some big, some small. One conflict was Alfred and boxing. When he first starts his body always aches then he went to a party and got messed up. He almost quit but he kept going and found out what he wanted to know. Overall I think it is a good book. Some changes could be but other than that I like it. 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 Diana , 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 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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