Contender, The by Lipsyte, Robert Reviewed by Cameron, age 14 The Contender by Robert Lipsyte The contender is a book about a black teen who wants to box and be a contender. The main character’s name is Alfred. Alfred lives in a rough neighborhood with thugs and drugs. His best friend James ends up going to jail. One day Alfred finds himself outside of Donatelli’s gym. Alfred decides he wants to be a contender and walks inside and tells Mr. Donatelli he wants to box. Mr. Donatelli tells him that it is not going to be an easy thing and that he has to really want to be a contender to last at the sport. Alfred trained hard every day and did every thing Mr. donatelli told him to do to train. When Alfred’s friend James got out of jail Alfred goes to hangout with him and decides that he don’t want to train like he is and not even get to spar. So Alfred goes to the gym and as he was leaving he ask Mr. Donatelli “If.. if I had wanted to, would I have… you know, be a contender?” Mr. Donatelli said,” don’t ask me” “Then who” asked Alfred. “Yourself. Anyone can be taught to fight. A contender, that you have to do yourself.” The main character in the contender is Alfred. Alfred is black and he quit school in the 11th grade. He wants to be a contender in boxing. His best friend is James. Alfred lives with his aunt in Harlem, New York . Henry is another important character in this story. Henry is Alfred’s trainer. Henry also limps bad because he has polios. James is Alfred’s best friends they have been friends for almost all of their lives. James ends up going to jail and when he gets out he is on heroin. Alfred tries to help him but all he wants is drugs. This book takes place in Harlem, New York in the 1960’s The conflict of this book is Alfred trying to box and Major and James keep coming around and wanting him to do bad things with them. The author does a good job in this story by giving flashbacks to evens that lead up to a bigger event that is happening. Some of the things the author did that I didn’t like was how he started the chapters. Some of them started off really confusing. This book would be good for a person who likes to read action books. This book has a lot of action. It also has a lot of surprises. 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 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 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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