Erica’s parents have just decided to split up. Her mother has decided to move to St. Louis to start a new life with just Erica. Once Erica gets settled in her school, she meets a friend named Destiny. Destiny then invites Erica to a club called TKO: a group of middle school aged kids playing the Knockout Game. The Knockout Game is what it sounds like. A member of the club is appointed to knockout a stranger on the streets in one hit.. Erica is given the job to record all of the Knockout Games, and she soon sees some things that will change her forever.
This book has many funny ideas and some serious ideas. Silly things like changing your hair, holding a karaoke night, and purposely getting lost in town. Some serious subjects such as thinking about your future, eating healthy, and helping out at a shelter. The book provides insightful tips on renting your own apartment and alcohol. Overall this book gives readers new things to try before becoming a full fledged adult.
In the Phoenix Files: Arrival by Chris Morphew, Luke is just a normal teenager. His mother and father are unfortunately split up, but he stays with his mother most of the time. Then suddenly one day, his mother gets offered this incredibly well paying job at a new town called Phoenix. Luke arrives at Phoenix and realizes that there is no Internet or cell service and the town claims that they will fix it “soon”. Little did Luke know that in a few days, saving the world would be shoved into his face.
In Say It Ain’t So by Josh Berk, Lenny is trying hard to help his friend, Mike, make the middle-school baseball team as a catcher while competing against the school bully, Davis. Unfortunately Mike only makes it in as a backup catcher while Davis makes it in as the main catcher. Unexpectedly, Davis gets busted for stealing a phone and hiding it in his shin guards. Davis denies he did anything wrong, but the coach does not believe Davis. Other Mike, Lenny’s other friend, decides to start hanging out with Davis and learns that Davis continuously denies he stole the phone.
Mike, a normal student attending high school discovers the death of a fellow classmate. Robbie Ducharme, a nerdy kid in his math class, has been brutally kicked to death in the park. Riel, Mike’s foster parent, is worried that Mike had something to do with the death, but Mike keeps telling him that he was not the murderer. Nonetheless, Mike finds out that all the signs and clues point towards him. Mike feels afraid that someone might be setting him up for a crime he never committed.
