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A review by literaryk
Crash by Jerry Spinelli
5.0
It's been a while since I've read a Jerry Spinelli book, but I quickly remembered he was my first favorite author as a kid. Crash was an awesome middle grade novel that focuses on the perspective of a full-of-himself bully going through middle school. Middle school brings the usual sports and showboating of new clothes, but also new students like Penn and Jane. It also brings changes to Crash's family. During that time, Crash begins to realize there's a world outside of himself and what that means for his personality and actions.
I felt this book accurately portrays the type of kid Crash appears to be, and seeing him slowly change felt authentic. There's no lengthy monolog where Crash reflects on his past and sees the wrong in it (because what 7th grader have you seen do that unprompted by adults?), and we don't see Crash going back to fix his wrongs. Instead, we see Crash suddenly react differently to the schemes of his peers as well as how he treats others.
He's not perfect at the end of the book, but nobody is. You do see a better version of Crash, though, and it makes all the difference.
I felt this book accurately portrays the type of kid Crash appears to be, and seeing him slowly change felt authentic. There's no lengthy monolog where Crash reflects on his past and sees the wrong in it (because what 7th grader have you seen do that unprompted by adults?), and we don't see Crash going back to fix his wrongs. Instead, we see Crash suddenly react differently to the schemes of his peers as well as how he treats others.
He's not perfect at the end of the book, but nobody is. You do see a better version of Crash, though, and it makes all the difference.