Crash
Written by Jerry Spinelli
Reviewed by Matt F. (age 11)
John Coogan is a football superstar. Nobody calls him John though, they call him Crash. He has a dweeby neighbor, Webb, who is a cheerleader, vegetarian and a Quaker. Crash and his friend Mike pick on Webb all the time. One of their pranks is squirting mustard into his nice, new white shoes. They do many terrible pranks to Webb over the years. Crash has a chance to change his ways. Will he do it?
I enjoyed this book because it flowed easily, and the middle of the book had a big twist. My favorite parts are when they pull pranks on Webb. One of the pranks they pull on him is when Crash steals Webb's turtle named Tom. Webb and I are alike because I also get pranks pulled on me. Sometimes my Mom puts rubber bugs on my sandwich. One time she put fake chicken inside my lunchbox. I also liked when Crash was shooting Webb with his squirt gun. As I read the book, I wondered if Crash would change and stop picking on Webb.
I would recommend this book to grades 4 - 6. It's easy to read and it was fun to watch Crash's life change and how he grew up.