BY LIZA STRANG The coming of age story of senior Brett "Stick" Patterson as he struggles to find a balance between making his father happy and finding his own happiness, and how his life changes upon meeting the genius nerd of the school, Preston Underwood, during a bullying incident instigated by Brett's friends on the football team. Eventually Preston teaches Stick about courage, not caring what others think of you, and doing what's right. As Stick learns more about Preston's life and points of view he finds himself making choices about problems he had been avoiding in hopes of changing his life.The book centers around Brett's conflicts with his team mates as he realizes the shallow relationship the share and with his father, an alcoholic since the death of Brett's mother.
With simple syntax and sentence structure, but more mature themes than are generally found in JV fiction, this story is focused towards high school aged readers. The relatively easy writing makes the book a viable choice for readers of any level. Though the characters and character relationships were not entirely believable in my opinion, they were representative of the sort of views a teenager might have and help to paint the overall themes of the book. "Stick" contains many topics that would be relatable to its YA audience such as single parent families, the pressure of getting into college with a scholarship, and bullying. I'm not going to say that this is my new personal favorite book, or anything, but I will say that it was a pretty enjoyable read and would be good for a large variety of readers.
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