Contender
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Overview
Before you can be a champion,you have to be a contender.
Alfred Brooks is scared. He's a highschool dropout and his grocery store job is leading nowhere. His best friend is sinking further and further into drug addiction. Some street kids are after him for something he didn't even do. So Alfred begins going to Donatelli's Gym, a boxing club in Harlem that has trained champions. There he learns it's the effort, not the win, that makes the man — that last desperate struggle to get back on your feet when you thought you were down for the count.
After a successful start in a boxing career, a Harlem high school dropout decides that competing in the ring isn't enough of life and resolves to aim for different goals.
Synopsis
you have to be a contender.
Alfred Brooks is scared. He's a highschool dropout and his grocery store job is leading nowhere. His best friend is sinking further and further into drug addiction. Some street kids are after him for something he didn't even do. So Alfred begins going to Donatelli's Gym, a boxing club in Harlem that has trained champions. There he learns it's the effort, not the win, that makes the man — that last desperate struggle to get back on your feet when you thought you were down for the count.
Language Arts
A 17-year-old Harlem boy struggles to become a champion boxer in this excellent novel [recommended] for use in the early phases of secondary school literature study.
Editorials
ALA Booklist
"A novel filled with hardships and hope."ALA Booklist
“A novel filled with hardships and hope.”Language Arts.
A 17-year-old Harlem boy struggles to become a champion boxer in this excellent novel [recommended] for use in the early phases of secondary school literature study.Language Arts
A 17-year-old Harlem boy struggles to become a champion boxer in this excellent novel [recommended] for use in the early phases of secondary school literature study.Children's Literature
The Contender's Robert Lipsyte is the literary grandfather of modern sports series writers like Matt Christopher. However, young readers with a passion for this genre will quickly loose interest. The painfully stiff dialogue, the descriptive narrative with no visible emotional core, and a clearly old-fashioned New York City make this text boring and difficult. The story follows the main character, Alfred, from a daily existence of bullying by the neighborhood gang to the gym where he makes new friends and gains self-confidence. This Cinderella story is poorly told especially in Alfred's almost overnight athletic success. In a matter of weeks, Alfred is transformed from the cowardly target of bullying to a promising young prizefighter. Lipsyte weaves throughout a cautionary tale. Alfred's best friend James makes poor decisions while Alfred chooses wisely. Two sections are noteworthy. During Alfred's training, the stiff narrative loosens and the words flow more like good poetry. The fight scenes read individually are pretty good and might captivate an unmotivated young reader. 2003 (orig. 1967), HarperTrophy,— Elizabeth Colbroth