Simon Gray is the ideal teenager — smart, reliable, hardworking, trustworthy. Or is he? After Simon crashes his car into The Liberty Tree, an...
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reviews
Apr 11, 2011
Sarah
rated it: 
I really enjoyed this book and think advanced middle school or early high school students would like it too. It deals with high stakes cheating in a high school as well as issues of friendship and guilt that surround the group of students involved in "the project" of cheating continuously. The characters are well developed gradually throughout the book through an omnicient third person narrator. While I get the symbolism of relating Simon to the young man who was wrongfully hanged beca
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Jun 30, 2009
Julia
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Shades of Simon Gray by Joyce McDonald is a fantastic young adult read. I would recommend this book to ages 14 and up. My favorite thing about this novel is the amazing description. If you are interested in reading this book you should be aware that it is a difficult read, and it also switches from different points of view (who is actually telling the story). To read a full summary of Shades of Simon Gray follow this link:
http://www.amazon.com/Shades-Simon-Gray-... More...
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Sep 13, 2011
Lauren
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Stark and cataclysmic feeling, the story hovers the line between human and fantasy. The boy parents love to love and his fellow students would love to hate "accidentally" runs into a tree and then you get to see all the lives he has thrown into relief and changed while he himself does nothing in the land of the living, but unearths the secret behind a local murder legend while in the land of the dead. I don't quite know what to make of it.
Dec 29, 2009
Abbie
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This is an interesting book about justice, guilt, and the reasons people do things. It mixes two stories. The first is a group of modern-day teens involved in a cheating ring who use Simon Gray to achieved their purposes. The second is a hanging from the 1700's. As the story progresses, both mysteries are revealed, and the towns people experience Biblical style plagues as punishment for past misdeeds.
Jun 19, 2009
Icka
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It was alright. Not my kind of genre, but I got it as a christmas gift. I found the main characters experiences in his "coma state" or dreams or whatever less interessting than the evens happening without him in it.
Apr 20, 2011
Rebekah
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Filled with Biblical allusions and morally compromising situations, Shades of Simon Gray is a mystery I plan to keep on the shelves for a long time.
Oct 07, 2010
Emily
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This guy runs into a tree and is in a coma, and his high school friends are in a lot of trouble for what they did, if they are going to get caught.
Feb 07, 2011
Alyssa
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This book was interesting but could be hard to keep up with the story. You had to pay attention and put the peices together.
Sep 12, 2011
Catie
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There was nothing interesting about this book. Nothing about it kept me going and wanted me to finish reading.
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Feb 10, 2011
Dustin
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Everybody i talk to about said it was horrible, but i enjoyed it. Everybody has thier own opinion i guess.
Feb 07, 2011
Matthew
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This book was different from all of the rest. I didn't think that it would be as good as it was at all.
Jan 26, 2010
Sarah
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I really enjoyed this book and it's got an interesting plot. Also has great cover art.
Nov 04, 2010
Thea
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It was okay. There were bits that really annoyed me -- like the kid who was a pot smoker but kept calling it marijuana. Predictable story, sort of a After-school Special feel.
Apr 08, 2010
Denise
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This is a great book about ethics: cheating, drugs, stealing, deceit. It's interesting to watch the characters rationalize the bad things they do.
Nov 21, 2010
Madeline
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I read this book in school and was really not liking it. There are fourteen chapters and I was bored for about nine of them. Finally around chapter ten it started getting better an redeemed the book a little bit. By chapter thirteen I was enjoying it but the ending was disappointing because there were a lot of loose ends. Overall an ok book but not one I would chose to read by myself.
Oct 26, 2008
Borun
rated it:
this book is about a guy named Simon who hacks into the school's computer system and helps his firends get into the schools they want to until he gets into a coma and the school finds out that someone is hacking into the system and Simon's friends are hoping he deleted all the evidence
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Nov 24, 2007
Cecy
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I really enjoyed reading this interesting book.It's about choices good and bad and the prices we're willing to pay to get what we want.
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Nov 06, 2009
Elizabeth
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Everyone seemed to like this book but I didn't like the way the author expressed herself.
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