Crash (1996)

YA; young man adjusts to grandfather's stroke, to growing maturity and recognition of his own responsibilities - Quaker friend, running; first girlfriend

Ever since Penn Webb moved to Pennsylvania seven years ago, he’s been the target of a bully named Crash Coogan. But this isn’t Penn’s story. This is Crash’s story. From the first time Crash saw Penn when they were five years old, Crash knew that Penn was going to be his target. Now that they’re in seventh grade, not much has changed--except that Crash’s little sister is becoming an environmentalist, their parents don’t have time to see him win football games, and Crash’s grandfather’s health is failing. But when Penn drops by with an unexpected act of kindness, Crash starts to think about what it means to sacrifice something important for somebody else.

I enjoyed this a lot more than I'd expected to. It's almost refreshing, in a way, to see a character you don't want to root for: Crash is a jock (and a jerk) with a huge ego; he's not a particularly sympathetic character, and yet you really want him to do the right thing. I do think it's a bit of a cop-out to imply that Crash became a thug and picks on Penn because he's jealous of Penn's loving, supportive family, but even that is handled subtly and with a certain grace. ( )

This book was very good! What I thought was a very funny part was when Crash saw Penn walking down the street for the first time! ( )

It was a very good book . There were many funny parts.It had a nice climax . ( )

This is a good book. It was about a football star who went from a bully to a nerds best friend. ( )