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Type of bind: Paperback
EAN num: 9780060598402
ISBN number: 0060598409
Label: HarperTeen
Manufacturer: HarperTeen
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 288
Printing Date: October 01, 2004
Publishing house: HarperTeen
Age index: Ages 4-8
Release Date: October 05, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 20169
Studio: HarperTeen
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Bo has been at war with his father for as long as he can remember. The rage he feels gives him the energy as a triathlete to press his body to the limit, but it also translates into angry outbursts toward his teachers.
Now dangerously close to expulsion from school, Bo has been assigned to Anger Management sessions with the school 'truants.' With an eclectic mix of hard-edged students, Bo may finally have to deal with his long-brewing hatred for his father -- before it eats away at him completely.
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Rated by buyers 
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Chris Crutcher's books run along similar lines - the male protagonist, their problem, and a strong female as well, all surrounding some athletic dispute of sorts. This is a very good and strong characteristic for these books, as it will likely encourage many young male readers who feel that most teen books are geared for girls only.
"Ironman" is one such book that most likely appeals far more to boys than it does to girls. The sports/athletic theme runs very strong through here, and is pivotal to the plot. However, this is not a sports novel. It's about Bo, his anger-management problem (though he doesn't believe there is one), his problems with his father, and his need to race.
"Ironman" is psychologically stimulating. Readers will be drawn into these uncomfortable worlds, and will watch Bo's troubled friends begin to talk and explain about themselves. It's very interesting, enjoyable, and on the whole a really great read.
A few flaws, though. Bo's dad seems a little TOO evil. And the bad guys are just bad - there are few gray shades here. Similarly, most of the side characters are pretty bland. The book doesn't delve much into specifics regarding many characters. Also, alternating voices makes it somewhat annoying/difficult to follow.
On the whole, though, a good book, especially for teenage boys. Not Crutcher's best, but recommended nonetheless.
Rated by buyers 
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This novel has very powerful characters that will stay with you. There are many different themes, like abuse, friendship, and family, that bring you into the backgrounds of people. They make you think about why people might act the way they do. I just finished teaching this novel to a 10th grade class and they also enjoyed it. There are so many different things you can do with it!! - videos on youtube.com, research papers, etc.
Rated by buyers -
Chris Crutcher, award-winning Young Adult fiction author, whose newest book, Deadline, is set to be released any day now, graciously allowed me to integrate elements of his novel, Ironman, into my novel, Courage in Patience, which is currently on submission to several publishing houses.
The headline, "Chris Crutcher rocks!" is bellowed by one of my characters, Kevin Cooper, who, prior to reading Ironman in his summer school class with the main character, Ashley, had never read a book in its entirety before.
"This book has FOOTBALL, man!" Kevin says.
As a public school teacher, I am keenly aware of the necessity of "hooking" young adult readers, by writing stories that they will relate to. I have Chris Crutcher to thank for that, because it was reading Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes and Ironman that made me realize that there was a market for the stories inside of me. I could write truthful, authentic stories that would be embraced by young people and adults. I could reach them where they are.
Ironman is used in Courage in Patience as a way of drawing the characters into an exploration of their own truths. Beverly Asher, the main character's stepmother and the teacher of the English II summer school class, calls her class a "Quest for Truth."
I will be eternally grateful to Chris Crutcher for allowing me to use his wonderful book within my own.
In addition, I pay homage to Chris's style of alternating first-and-third person points-of-view-- which he used so skillfully in Ironman, to draw the reader more deeply into the story.
I can't wait to receive my copy of Chris's newest novel, Deadline!
SOMETIMES THE ONLY WAY TO SURVIVE LIFE IS TO FIND THE COURAGE TO FINALLY LIVE.
Courage in Patience
Ashley Nicole Asher's life changes forever on the night her mother, Cheryl, meets Charlie Baker. Within a year of her mother's marriage to Charlie, typical eight-year-old Ashley's life becomes a nightmare of sexual abuse and emotional neglect. Bundling her body in blankets and sleeping in her closet to try to avoid Charlie's nighttime assaults, she is driven by rage at age 14 to to tell her mother, in spite of the threats Charlie has used to keep Ashley silent. Believing that telling will make Charlie go away, instead it reveals to Ashley where she lies on her mother's list of priorities.
"We're just going to move on now," Cheryl tells Ashley. "Go to your room." Ashley's psyche splinters into shards of glass, and she desperately tries to figure a way out, while at the same time battling numbness and an inability to remember what happened when she blacked out after Charlie tackled her. She knew that when she awoke her clothes were disheveled and the lower-half of her body was covered in bright blue blood-- but she has only a blank spot in the "video" of her memory.
When Ashley's friend, Lisa, sees a note from Cheryl telling Ashley that Charlie would never "do those things to her," and insisting that she apologize for accusing him of molesting her, Lisa forces dazed Ashley to make an outcry to her teacher, Mrs. Chapman.
By the end of the day, Ashley's father, David, who has not seen Ashley since she was three months old, is standing in the offices of Child and Family Services. He brings her home to the small East Texas town of Patience, where he lives with his wife, Beverly, their son, Ben, and works with his brother, Frank. Its neighboring town, Six Shooter City, is so quirky, it's practically on the cusp of an alternate universe; a trip to the Wal-Mart reveals to visitors that "there's either something in the water..or family trees around here don't fork."
Through the summer school English class/ Quest for Truth taught by Beverly, an "outside-the-box" high school English teacher whose passion for teaching comes second only to her insistence upon authenticity, Ashley comes to know Roxanne Blake, a girl scarred outwardly by a horrific auto crash and inwardly by the belief that she is "Dr. Frankenstein's little experiment";
Wilbur "Dub" White, a fast-talking smart mouth whose stepfather is a white supremacist who nearly kills a man while Dub watches from the shadows, forcing Dub to realize that he cannot live with the person that he is, any longer;
Zaquoiah "Z.Z." Freeman, one of the few African-Americans in Patience, whose targeted-for-extinction family inherited the estate of one of Patience's founding families and has been given the charge to "turn this godforsaken town on its head";
Hector "Junior" Alvarez, a father at sixteen whose own father was killed in prison, who works two jobs and is fueled by the determination to "do it right" for his son, "3", and his girlfriend, Moreyma;
T.W. Griffin, whose football-coach father expects him to be Number One at everything, and whose mother naively believes that he is too young to think ... Read More
Rated by buyers -
Beauregard Brewster, nicknamed Bo, is a 17-year-old, angry, trouble-maker. Bo was forced to choose between either having an in-home tutor or attending an anger management class, taught by Mr. Nakatani. In the class Bo met and fell in love with Shelly, a tough young woman training to be an American Gladiator. Bo's self-training to become an ironman, for the Yukon Jack challenge, was a major part of the book. Mr. Lionel Serbousek, one of Bo's teachers, allowed Bo to be on the college swim team he coached. Chris Crutcher tackles serious social issues such as anger management and relationships effectively through his use of format. Ironman is written through narration and letters, which Bo wrote to Larry King, a talk show icon. Crutcher gives an outsider's view of what is happening in the story as well as letting the reader hear Bo's thoughts. These letters reveal the honest struggle of Bo frustrated by his anger, his father, teachers, threats by Ian and thoughts, both nonsexual and sexual, of Shelly. As all of these are thoughts and issues which teenagers face, Crutcher uses language that is used by teenagers which adds to the book's authenticity. Consequently, an accurate description of a teenager's life is depicted.
Rated by buyers -
great book for young adults. Lots of themes and examples that can relate to adolescent lives.
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