Games by carol gordman

Games is an interesting look into the minds, perspectives, and motives of two "bullies" who enjoy nothing more than picking on and humiliating each other. Well, nothing except for perhaps Tabitha Slater's brilliant, brace-filled smile I was captured by the story immediately, and found that I had trouble putting the book down every evening and was wondering throughout the following day what would happen next to poor Mick and Boot. My only wish is that there was a more satisfying resolution in the boys' home lives by the end of the story.

You're left wondering if and how it will all turn out for them. Art mimics life, I suppose What IS clear in the end, however, is that their lives are richer, fuller, and just plain better for having gotten to know each other. Sep 27, Isel rated it liked it.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Okay, so Iiked the book but I have a problem with it. Why didn't Boot get a happy ending? I love Mick and I'm very happy he got his happy ending.

A new NICE girl he likes, he didn't get in trouble for what he did to the library in all honesty he deserved some punishment for that , his mom and him finally decided to leave his dad who didn't deserve them. I'm very happy with Mick's ending so the problem is why didn't Boot get a similar ending? Instead he gets that girl Tabitha who does NOT deserve him, he's still living with his dad and brother who I know will probably treat him good for a week maybe a month if he's lucky before getting back to mistreating him, and it wasn't made clear if he was able to repair his friendship with Jesse and his dad.

Why does one have a better ending then the other one? They broke my heart near the end. I was crying. I was so happy to see that although they're not exactly friends yet Mick still defended Boots. Love both characters and their story. Sep 23, Jdtolbertyahoo. I enjoyed seeing the story from both sides. They pick fights with each other. Something supported by their fathers. As a way to get the boys to learn a little more about each other the new principal has them play games at school.

After a dare for each of them go horribly wrong they both realize something about themselves and each other. The characters were real and enjoyable to read about. I liked this story a lot. Dec 28, Greta rated it it was amazing. I love this book, I love boots especially, I feel like micks life ended up ok and Boots was trashed. It hurt my soul in the best way. Jun 28, Ray Robinson rated it really liked it.

Great book about two boys who can't get along and the struggles they have at school and at home. It is surprising what you can learn about someone while playing a game. Mar 13, Ruth Ellen rated it it was ok Shelves: middle-grade.

It's not BAD, it was just I also feel it was kinda misbranded? Dec 14, Ashley Potter rated it it was amazing. Oct 12, Toriin added it. Sep 11, Alex Blose rated it it was amazing. Boot and Mick despise each other. After getting suspended a number of times and getting in trouble at school, the new principal comes up with a new solution to try and resolve the issues between the boys. Everyday for over an hour, the two boys must go to the "game room" and play board games while they are there.

Crazy idea, right? Well, Mr. Maddox, the principal, thinks it is the perfect solution and he decides to give it a go. During their time in the "game room", the boys continue to battle th Boot and Mick despise each other. During their time in the "game room", the boys continue to battle things out, but this time over some different issues, such as the cute girl with braces, Tabitha. The boys also participate in a dare game, which gets them into some deep trouble, and discover an underground tunnel in the school.

While getting to learn about each other in the game room, the boys learn about each others lives and realize that underlying issues at home are what is really causing the issues between the boys and they begin to see through the light and come together to help one another out. I really liked this book. It was so realistic that I felt as if this was something that could have happened while I was in middle school. The issues of bullying, trying to impress girls, and alcoholic and abusive parents are things that continue to occur today and this book did a great job of telling a story involving all of this.

The way that the boys worked through their problems and realized that they weren't so different from each other made for a wonderful storyline and it kept me hooked the entire way through. As a future teacher, I would most definitely use this book to teach about bullying and difficult issues young students may be going through. It would also be a great book to just have in a classroom library, so if a student was going through a situation like those in the book, this would be a wonderful tool to try to help them through it.

This book could easily be used for any student in sixth grade and up. Oct 22, Jonathon rated it really liked it. The tale of two bullies, from first met to last stand, the hatred always there. They harbor feelings of hate towards each other. Within the story, The tale of two bullies, from first met to last stand, the hatred always there.

Within the story, the characters are dealing with many conflicts in their lives at the moment. A struggle both boys have in common is the struggle for a girl at school, Tabitha Slaters, attention. Tabitha usually is the drive for their fights in the story, because both boys want her to think of them, the hero.

This adds to the entertainment of the story because you can control how you visualize the setting, the characters, and the overall seriousness of the novel. For example, if you are feeling like a serious realistic novel one day, you can imagine and picture the story that way, or if you are feeling like a silly cartoonlike novel another day, you can picture it that way too.

In conclusion Games is a fantastic novel because of its entertaining content that will make you sad to put the book down and because of its leeway for imagination. Oct 15, Karin rated it liked it Shelves: youngadult. Mick Sullivan and Boot Quinn have been enemies since the day they first met.

They have had countless fist fights and have already been suspended once in the first month of their eighth grade year. Mick Sullivan is big for his age which make people think he likes to fight way more than he does. Actually, Mick likes to read more than anything else. He considers the library his second home. Mick's father is constantly trying to get him to be tougher and get him involved in sports, but Mick just doe Mick Sullivan and Boot Quinn have been enemies since the day they first met.

Mick's father is constantly trying to get him to be tougher and get him involved in sports, but Mick just doesn't enjoy them. Boot doesn't have many friends. He likes to play the guitar and wants to someday be in a band. His biggest goal for the day is to give Mick a hard time by teasing him about his father who has a drinking problem. Both boys have difficult home lives that they really keep hidden from everyone else. They also like Tabitha Slater, the most popular girl in the eighth grade.

Things start to change when a new principal comes to the school. After their latest fight, instead of suspending them again, he assigns the boys to come to the office to play games for an hour every day.

This extra time together, without adult supervision, leads to some heated exchanges and ultimately some extremely devastating consequences for both Mick and Boot. While cooperation and civility don't happen in the traditional sense, they do start to learn about each other. Carol Gorman, the author of the Dork in Disguise series, takes us on the emotional rollercoaster of middle school where what your friends think is what drives the majority of your decisions and with most people there is more than meets the eye.

Jun 05, Kelley Franco rated it liked it. Reading children type books as an "adult" is difficult. Not because the writing is terrible or the story and characters don't work. More so because I just can't relate any more. I read this with a boy I tutor or I probably would have never heard of it. I enjoyed reading it with him and was excited to see it spark interest and wonder in a boy who typically doesn't enjoy reading.

What I found difficult however was trying to control my disdain for many of the school children and also the main characters at certain times. Though by the end I did feel for them since both home lives were not ideal. I think it presents an understanding that bullies may be bullies because of home stuff out of their control. You never know what someone may be going through.

The messages were great and I definitely wasn't expecting such a reality check with the ending it got real- real fast. Overall I would suggest this for younger kids around the age of the boys in the book because I could tell the boy I was helping could relate very well. As an adult though. I mainly wanted to smack Tabitha or her parents and tell her to stop being a little Feb 04, Salsabrarian rated it liked it Shelves: middle , reader , school , alternating , perspectives , bullies.

It took awhile for this story to take off for me, in part because I did not find the boys' personalities distinctive enough to remember whose voice was narrating a given chapter.

Fans of books told in alternating perspectives a la "Flipped" may enjoy this one. Mick and Boot are sworn enemies for as long as they can remember.

For some reason they just can't stand each other. It's only September 8th and they have had two fights at school already. Instead of suspending them again,the new principal It took awhile for this story to take off for me, in part because I did not find the boys' personalities distinctive enough to remember whose voice was narrating a given chapter. Instead of suspending them again,the new principal requires them to come in during class and lunch and play board games.

Relations continue to be prickly and the animosity climaxes in a game of dare in front of their classmates. Mick's dare is to splash red paint on the public library, his beloved hangout, and Boot's dare is to shoplift an instrument from a music store run by his closest friend. In alternating chapters Mick's Turn, Boot's Turn we see their differing perspectives on the situation and how their troubled home lives impact them.

As the boys get to know each other, a sort of truce takes place Jun 05, Karen Ball rated it really liked it. Mick Sullivan and Boot Quinn have been enemies for quite some time, and now they have a new principal who believes in solving problems differently. Thus, for two periods a day, they must come to the office, and sit in a room together and play board games until they can figure out how to get along.

At first, it makes them angrier, and they challenge each other to a series of dares based on the things that are most important to each of them. They also both have a crush on Tabitha, who is secretly Mick Sullivan and Boot Quinn have been enemies for quite some time, and now they have a new principal who believes in solving problems differently.

They also both have a crush on Tabitha, who is secretly taking bets on how their daily games and dares will turn out. Both boys have issues at home: Mick is a constant disappointment to his dad since he doesn't like sports, and motherless Boot is often knocked around by his father and older brother. Told from both Mick's and Boot's point of view, the story is realistic and interesting, with great characters. Jun 11, Alison rated it it was amazing.

Boot Quinn and Mick Sullivan hate, no loathe each other. Their hatred for one another started over a class project back in elementary school. Now all the boys do is call each other names and beat each other up. The new principal, Mr. Maddox, decides to have the boys play board games to learn how to get along with each other. At first, it only makes things worse especially when the boys start competing for Tabithia Slater, the hottest girl in scho "Boys will be boys" just about sums up this book.

At first, it only makes things worse especially when the boys start competing for Tabithia Slater, the hottest girl in school. The boys decide to call a truce and play "Dare" instead. This turns out to be the worst idea ever because the boys dare each other to destroy what is their second homes.

Boot and Mick also find out they both have bad dads. Does the result of the dares and their relationships with their dads help the boys find a common ground or add fuel to the fire?

Aug 10, Vivien Sarabillo rated it it was amazing Shelves: praise-the-authors-of-these-books. Does putting "I like happy endings" count as a spoiler? Even though they seem a little to mainstream, it just feels so good to end one of your page turning adventures with a smile. Games by Carol Gorman is a page turner. But for the sake of adding a couple more sentences into this review.. This book shows that I don't really care because they're a hundred percent genuinely true :P Feb 08, Brenda Thompson added it Shelves: bullies , family-relationships , middle-school , self-image.

That is, until a new principal arrives on the scene and forces Mick and Boot to spend an hour and a half each day playing games to Mick Sullivan likes reading thrillers, daydreaming about Tabitha Slater, and teasing his archenemy, Boot Quinn.

Two enemies, one small room, and no adult supervision 14battle lines are bound to be crossed. Sep 24, Deborah rated it it was ok. After a history of fighting in and out of school, a new principal decides to place the two boys in a room by themselves hoping that they will play board games, learn something about each other, and kiss and make up. Oh, brother. But guess what!! It works. At the end of the book, Mick learns that Boot is being beaten by his father when he finds the Boot hiding in school one night.

He goes for help, where??? To the abusing father who explains to Boot that his own father beat him when he was a boy, After a history of fighting in and out of school, a new principal decides to place the two boys in a room by themselves hoping that they will play board games, learn something about each other, and kiss and make up. To the abusing father who explains to Boot that his own father beat him when he was a boy, so he is sorry and won't ever do it again. So Boot goes home with his dad and Mick pats himself on the back.

In bleak sentences of whispered beauty, Eddie tells how he dropped out of vocational college and is attempting to get by with odd jobs. His aunt and friends want him to avenge the recent murder of his cousin, but Eddie just wants to find a way out. Everything he tries turns soura stint doing yard work ends when his boss's truck is stolen on Eddie's watchand life is a daily battle for survival. The result is a sort of Fresno Salaam Bombay without the pockets of humanity that gave the original its charm.

A valuable tale, it's one that makes no concessions. Painfully aware of not fitting into suburban teen life in her native Maryland, Clara awakens to feeling alive in Mexico and realizes a sweet first love with Pedro, a charming goat herder. Beautifully written, this is filled with evocative language that is rich in imagery and nuance and speaks to the connections that bind us all.

Add a thrilling adventure and all the makings of an entrancing read are here. Already have an account? Log in. Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials. Sign Up. Pub Date: Jan.

Page Count: Publisher: HarperCollins. No Comments Yet. More by Carol Gorman. Pub Date: Sept. Page Count: Publisher: Harcourt.