Nancy Keane's Booktalks -- Quick and Simple

	Shusterman, Neal. BRUISER New York : HarperTeen, 2010 IL YA ISBN 0061134082
Click on the book to read Amazon reviews	Tennyson and Brontë are twins, who (big surprise) are the children of literature professors. There lives are just as comfortable and well off as you'd imagine. Brewster Rawlins lives with his eight-year-old brother Cody on their uncle's run down former farm in the middle of the suburbs. Not much is known about Brewster, except that because of his hulking size and quiet manner, everyone calls him Bruiser. Brontë decides that she wants to date Brewster and this sends her hot-headed brother into fits. But after confronting Brewster, Tennyson changes his mind, and decides to give him a chance,  although he also wants to find out more about this mysterious kid in his class. It turns out that Brewster has a special ability. He can actually absorb the pain of someone he cares for. Up util now, Bruiser's power has been only been used to protect his little brother Cody from their uncle.  Brewster has kept it all a secret by being quiet and never really having any friends. As Tennyson and Brontë's injuries star to mysteriously disappear, and their athletic abilities grow, they slowly realize just what Brewster can do. Tennyson and Brontë begin to draw Brewster out of his shell, thinking they're helping him, but Brewster's uncle has other ideas. His rage drives him to a frenzy that will change things forever. You'll hear each person's side of the story: bullying Tennyson, compassionate Brontë, poetic Brewster, and Cody's little kid voice. They say the ones you love the most are the ones who can hurt you worst. In Bruiser's case that's literally true. Find out what happens to him in Bruiser. (booktalk adapted from a book review by Shawn Crosby King County Library System for Evergreen Young Adult Book Award 2013)
	SUBJECTS:     Child abuse -- Fiction.                         Supernatural -- Fiction.                         Twins -- Fiction.                         Brothers and sisters -- Fiction.                         Family problems -- Fiction.                         Interpersonal relations -- Fiction.

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