BOOKS
Life of Pi — Yann Martel
When sixteen-year-old Pi Patel finds himself stranded in a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with only a 450-pound Bengal tiger for company, he quickly realizes that the only way to survive is to make sure the tiger is more afraid of him than he is of it. With over one million copies in print, LIFE OF PI has become a modern classic, combining the best sort of storytelling with a profound exploration of ageless themes: faith and truth, man versus nature, innocence and experience. (Teenreads.com)Fat Boy Swim — Catherine Forde
It’s a deal with the devil. Jimmy “Fat Boy Fat” Kelly, a 14-year-old boy mercilessly teased at school and completely inept at sports, has been commissioned by Father “GI Joe” Joseph, the unforgiving sports coach, to make food for a fundraiser. In exchange for Jimmy’s cooking, GI Joe will teach Jimmy how to swim. Swimming, Jimmy feels, is in his blood, no matter how many times his mother tells him that no one in his family can swim. Add to this picture a pretty, myopic girl with chocolate-brown hair, some bullies, a hushed family secret, a strange dream with a shadow figure, and a crushing defeat of a bully and you have a poorly constructed, superficial novel with underdeveloped plot lines and too much British slang.There are a number of plot elements with the potential to be interesting and have a strong impact on Jimmy and the story, but none of them are fully realized, and the book feels as if it’s trying too hard to cram too much into Jimmy’s life. Jimmy’s advances in competitive swimming are unrealistic, especially when he defeats his nemesis, an experienced swimmer, in his first race. He also learns a life-changing secret about his heritage, but the impact that this has on him is explored very little, if at all. (Teenreads.com)