Booktalks Quick and Simple

	Asher, Diana Harmon. SIDE TRACKED New York : Amulet, 2017 IL 3-6, RL 4.8 ISBN 978-1-41972-601-9 (2 booktalks)
Click on the book to read Amazon reviews	Booktalk #1 Sometimes we become sidetracked. For 7th grader Joseph this happens all too often as he copes with his ADD diagnosis. He struggles to understand school and the concept of sports. His phobias are many, especially when it comes to sports. Imagine being in the middle of the soccer field. Your mind drifts, as you watch a grey squirrel clutch a fat brown maple seed. It turns the seed slowly, about to take a bite- suddenly freezing- eyeing something behind you. Joseph is brought back to reality when the ground beneath him trembles as if an earthquake is about to hit. He turns to see a herd of feet charging toward him. There is nowhere to go. He braces for impact as Charlie, the class bully, leads the charge right at him. The impact doesn’t happen. Charlie is flying through the air, tumbling before the thud of his body smashes onto the ground like a firecracker exploding. Someone took Charlie out and stole the ball! Charlie was hipchecked…by a girl! Heather, the new girl in school, becomes Joseph’s salvation. A kinship develops when Joseph finds himself on the new track team with Heather. With a team of misfits, Joseph learns to handle the school bully and learns that life is not about how fast you run, but that you run. (New Hampshire Great Stone Face nominee, 2018-2019) Booktalk #2 Joseph feels like he will never fit in. But all he really needs is a group of friends who accept him for who he is, ADD and all. So when he joins his school’s new track team, will he find just that, or will he find even more reasons for Charlie to tease him? When he meets Heather, the new athletic girl, will she join Charlie’s side, or finally be the person who sticks up for Joseph? With the help of their new coach, will Joseph, and his whole new track team, learn to stick up for themselves, and learn the valuable lesson that you don’t always have to win, just always do your best, or will they succumb to the teasing and give up? ( Prepared by: Samantha Finkenberg, Cario Middle School, finsam5260@ccsdschools.com for South Carolina Book Award)
	SUBJECTS: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder -- Fiction. Bullying -- Fiction. Friendship -- Fiction. Jews -- United States -- Fiction. Learning disabilities -- Fiction. Middle schools -- Fiction. Running -- Fiction. Schools -- Fiction. Sports fiction.

Asher, Diana Harmon.
SIDE TRACKED
New York : Amulet, 2017
IL 3-6, RL 4.8
ISBN 978-1-41972-601-9

(2 booktalks)

Click on the book to read Amazon reviews

Booktalk #1

Sometimes we become sidetracked. For 7th grader Joseph this happens all too often as he copes with his ADD diagnosis. He struggles to understand school and the concept of sports. His phobias are many, especially when it comes to sports.

Imagine being in the middle of the soccer field. Your mind drifts, as you watch a grey squirrel clutch a fat brown maple seed. It turns the seed slowly, about to take a bite- suddenly freezing- eyeing something behind you. Joseph is brought back to reality when the ground beneath him trembles as if an earthquake is about to hit. He turns to see a herd of feet charging toward him. There is nowhere to go. He braces for impact as Charlie, the class bully, leads the charge right at him. The impact doesn’t happen. Charlie is flying through the air, tumbling before the thud of his body smashes onto the ground like a firecracker exploding. Someone took Charlie out and stole the ball! Charlie was hipchecked…by a girl! Heather, the new girl in school, becomes Joseph’s salvation. A kinship develops when Joseph finds himself on the new track team with Heather. With a team of misfits, Joseph learns to handle the school bully and learns that life is not about how fast you run, but that you run. (New Hampshire Great Stone Face nominee, 2018-2019)

Booktalk #2

Joseph feels like he will never fit in. But all he really needs is a group of friends who accept him for who he is, ADD and all. So when he joins his school’s new track team, will he find just that, or will he find even more reasons for Charlie to tease him? When he meets Heather, the new athletic girl, will she join Charlie’s side, or finally be the person who sticks up for Joseph? With the help of their new coach, will Joseph, and his whole new track team, learn to stick up for themselves, and learn the valuable lesson that you don’t always have to win, just always do your best, or will they succumb to the teasing and give up? ( Prepared by: Samantha Finkenberg, Cario Middle School, finsam5260@ccsdschools.com for South Carolina Book Award)

SUBJECTS:     Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder -- Fiction.
                        Bullying -- Fiction.
                        Friendship -- Fiction.
                        Jews -- United States -- Fiction.
                        Learning disabilities -- Fiction.
                        Middle schools -- Fiction.
                        Running -- Fiction.
                        Schools -- Fiction.
                        Sports fiction.