Dhruv Kilaru - June Book Reviews

1.Durango Street: The ending and conclusion of this book is great. However, the beginning and middle really didn’t connect with me. This book is about a kid named Rufus Henry who has to lead a gang in a rivalry with another gang. Meanwhile, a police officer named Alex is trying to shut down every gang in Durango Street. Before I go any further, one thing that you must know is that this word uses the “n” word a lot, and I’m my opinion, they use it in very bad situations. This book is also very slow and a lot of the things they do are pretty pointless. I think the characters Rufus and Alex are interesting but none of the other gang characters do anything special. I don’t hate them, they just didn’t do anything good. However, to come full circle, the ending had some really beautiful writing. It was able to convey Rufus’s character art in a very compelling and believable way. Despite this however, if u have time read it, but it’s definitely okay to skip this book by Frank Bonham. 2.Shoe Dog: While I had mostly negative things to say about Durango Street this memoir by the creator of Nike is really inspiring. The writing is normal, as it reflects the point in the story. When the author, Phil Knight, wants the readers to feel happy, he uses words such as “enthusiastic” and “creative”. When he wants us to feel down, he’ll use words/phrases like “over the top” or “weird”. But to me, the real high point is the actual story. We get to see how an average Oregon college student becomes the CEO of the leading shoe company in America. The only real complaint I have about this book is that it feels very cut down. You see, there are two versions of this book. There is the kid version of the book (which I read this month) and the normal version (which I read a while ago). This kid version cut too many amazing parts of the story in my opinion. However, this book is amazing and I think it’s my favorite of the five books I’ve read this month. 3.Crossover: The story of this book is amazing. It is about two twins, and I know a lot of people stereotype that twins argue and fight a lot. And these twins are no different, however Kwame Alexander tells us why these twins fight the way they do: on the court. The two twins are actually the sons of a famous European league basketball player. There is actually a sequel for dad, and I’m hoping to read it next month, so I won’t go into him so much, although he is probably my favorite character. One big thing that didn’t work for me (only because of my personal biases) is the format. Kwame Alexander is also a famous poet, and he shows that in this book. Each page is a poem about what happens in that scene. I think this would’ve worked better as a normal book, but hey, the story was worth it. I definitely wouldn’t skip this, just be ready for the different format. 4.Okay For Now: Gary D. Schmidt is an author who I’ve read a lot of so I’m pretty acquainted with his work. Actually his books are more than an acquaintance, they are a friend. And Okay For Now might be my new best friend (based on his books). This shows the struggles of Doug Switeck in the 1960s, which was a big year for America. The Vietnam war had started, the moon landing was highly awaited, and the Yankees were at their high. Doug had recently moved from central New York to a small town. Meanwhile he has to face the struggles of his dad and two brothers, who can be really abusive. I really enjoyed this book, and it had another element that I don’t want to spoil, but it’s the cherry on top for this whole book. Please, do yourself a favor and read this book. 5.Most Valuable Player: This book has a really good story, if you’re a nine year old. This book is really meaningful but it reminds me of a PBS TV show, with morals, and crazy solutions to real world problems. What I really like is the amount of basketball and NBA references though because those are really fun. However, I don’t want to bore you in those details. So if you’re a teenager like me and not a fan of the NBA, you can skip this book. However, if you have the free time, it wouldn’t hurt to read this book.