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What Hearts
On the Move
STRAIGHT A's AND AN EMPTY HOUSE
The day Asa wins school prizes, he loses a home, takes a night ride on the roller coaster, and finds out life doesn't run on tracks.
THE VARIETY SHOW
Asa's a lone operator, but he's needed on his friend's team -- to recite a poem that's about as real as the sunshine in cigarette commercials.
PLAYING WITH THE QUIK-E-FREEZE COOL GUYS
Seven moves in three years, and now Asa can't have the room he wants in the new house. His fake dad's a bully, and Asa knows everything, and baseball's a great way to act all that out.
HOW TO SAY I LOVE YOU, TOO
His mom's back, and Asa's looking down the road again, wondering if his life will stand still long enough for him to risk falling in love. . . .
Recipient of a 1993 Newbery Honor, this novel is an achingly beautiful, powerfully rendered journey through childhood that is not to be missed, now available in a new edition with a striking new cover.
STRAIGHT A's AND AN EMPTY HOUSE
The day Asa wins school prizes, he loses a home, takes a night ride on the roller coaster, and finds out life doesn't run on tracks.
THE VARIETY SHOW
Asa's a lone operator, but he's needed on his friend's team -- to recite a poem that's about as real as the sunshine in cigarette commercials.
PLAYING WITH THE QUIK-E-FREEZE COOL GUYS
Seven moves in three years, and now Asa can't have the room he wants in the new house. His fake dad's a bully, and Asa knows everything, and baseball's a great way to act all that out.
HOW TO SAY I LOVE YOU, TOO
His mom's back, and Asa's looking down the road again, wondering if his life will stand still long enough for him to risk falling in love. . . .
Recipient of a 1993 Newbery Honor, this novel is an achingly beautiful, powerfully rendered journey through childhood that is not to be missed, now available in a new edition with a striking new cover.
194 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1992
12 people are currently reading
712 people want to read
About the author
Bruce Brooks
60 books19 followersBruce Brooks (born September 23, 1950) is an American author of young adult and children's literature. He was born in Washington D.C., but spent most of his time growing up in North Carolina as a result of parents' being divorced. Although divorce is never easy for a child, Brooks credits moving around a lot between the two locations with making him a keen observer of social situations. Switching schools often and having to make new friends evolved his ability to tell good stories. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1972, and the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1980. Before earning a living as a writer, Brooks had worked as a letterpress operator and a journalist for magazines and newspapers. Brooks has reported a very diverse list of influences, like Charles Dickens, Henry James, P.G. Wodehouse and Raymond Chandler. Brooks has three sons: Alex, 23, Spencer, 15, and Drake, 1. He lives with his wife Ginee Seo in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
July 15, 2022
Incredible! The writing of Bruce Brooks in this story is something beyond simple greatness. It is a turbocharged rocket moving with speed and dexterity beyond what the average human can comprehend. It is a living thing, a dynamic creature bursting with pure verve at its every seam, descriptive beyond what one could ever expect from a novel and flowing with a potent and challenging immediacy that is more a thing of beauty than just about anything else I've ever seen from a book. The writing of Bruce Brooks in What Hearts literally, and I mean literally, stole my breath away and left me in amazed wonderment.
The narrative reads, really, like four distinct stories loosely built around the life of a quietly luminous boy named Asa Hill, four different snapshots taken at progressive points during his childhood. These moments might not seem terribly important in the big scheme of things, but in truth they help to define who Asa is. More than that, these happenings in his life reveal to Asa himself the person he is and the person he is becoming, letting him see the things he can change, the things he can't change, and the things from both of these ends that he doesn't want to change.
What Hearts is, in my experience, a totally unique book. It can be difficult to tell what is real and what parts are products of Asa's fertile and indefatigable mind. A lot of this leads to questions that dot the narrative all the way through, some of which are answered, some merely hinted at, and others that are never addressed at all. The end product is a book that feels astonishingly like real life and not like a fabricated story at all, no matter how skillfully rendered such a story might be.
What I take from this book most of all is its shockingly sharp perception—a degree of perception that made me feel as if Asa and I were as one, sharing a soul with all of its nuances and complications that I thought only I could see—and the pulsating, glowing use of language that Bruce Brooks puts on exhibit from page one. This is the kind of very rare book that reminds me exactly why I write, why I read, why I allow characters and the writing of others to influence me so strongly. It's because when an author like Bruce Brooks comes along, so very uncommonly, it makes it all worth it. Consuming his breathtaking writing is like eating the most wonderful food in the world, and having it nourish both my mind and stomach. What Hearts is a tour de force in the strongest and truest possible sense of the word, and I deeply loved every minute of it. I loved it to my innermost core.
The narrative reads, really, like four distinct stories loosely built around the life of a quietly luminous boy named Asa Hill, four different snapshots taken at progressive points during his childhood. These moments might not seem terribly important in the big scheme of things, but in truth they help to define who Asa is. More than that, these happenings in his life reveal to Asa himself the person he is and the person he is becoming, letting him see the things he can change, the things he can't change, and the things from both of these ends that he doesn't want to change.
What Hearts is, in my experience, a totally unique book. It can be difficult to tell what is real and what parts are products of Asa's fertile and indefatigable mind. A lot of this leads to questions that dot the narrative all the way through, some of which are answered, some merely hinted at, and others that are never addressed at all. The end product is a book that feels astonishingly like real life and not like a fabricated story at all, no matter how skillfully rendered such a story might be.
What I take from this book most of all is its shockingly sharp perception—a degree of perception that made me feel as if Asa and I were as one, sharing a soul with all of its nuances and complications that I thought only I could see—and the pulsating, glowing use of language that Bruce Brooks puts on exhibit from page one. This is the kind of very rare book that reminds me exactly why I write, why I read, why I allow characters and the writing of others to influence me so strongly. It's because when an author like Bruce Brooks comes along, so very uncommonly, it makes it all worth it. Consuming his breathtaking writing is like eating the most wonderful food in the world, and having it nourish both my mind and stomach. What Hearts is a tour de force in the strongest and truest possible sense of the word, and I deeply loved every minute of it. I loved it to my innermost core.
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May 30, 2016I'm not entirely sure what to rate this, because although it's undoubtedly a wonderful book, I didn't quite get it. But then again, I'm only a 12 year old whose maturity rate and intelligence probably can't match up to the author's. I didn't get the message that it sent, and I'm not entirely sure that there was a message to be sent, but I'll probably try to read this again once I think that I might have a bit more of an understanding.
June 22, 2022
Heart-wrenching and well-written, this Newbery Honor deserves a place as a classic.
July 23, 2007
Warning: this book rips your heart out and stomps on it.
December 30, 2017
Brooks gives us a look at the difficulties of relationships, mental health issues, and a child's adaptations. It took me a while to get "un-distracted," because so often in the beginning, a 5-yo thinks and speaks in the words of a mature adult in a way no 5-yo does, regardless of how precocious they are. The unreliable narrator bits are fun when you realize what is happening.
May 26, 2024
This is the second book I've read by Bruce Brooks in the past year, and I definitely want to read more. Both of the books I've read by him won the Newberry Award. I can see why much more with The Moves Make the Man, but I understand why people would choose this book to award also. It's broken down into four parts, sort of like short stories, but it is a continuous book with the same main character, Asa, and common plot points, like Asa's relationships with his mother and stepfather, Dave. I really like Asa as a main character--he's complex and interesting. I also like the dynamics of his relationship with his parents. They highlight important struggles and triumphs that middle grade readers go through. I really like Brooks' writing style. In Moves, he wrote first person, and Jerome was such a strong narrator with a great voice. This book is third person, but its intimacy makes it feel first.
My favorite story/chapter/section is "Out." It's subtle and nuanced, and I wasn't expecting the ending. I really liked "What Hearts?" also, which means something so different with the question mark at the end than the title does without punctuation. I guess that's the most impressive thing for me about Brooks' writing and what makes me want to read more--the subtlety. He writes books for children, but as an adult, I really appreciate the complexity of his characterization and observations about life through the eyes of kids. The only thing I didn't dislike but didn't exactly like is that Asa's story is very similar to Bix's in Moves with his mother's background. It makes me wonder about what Brooks may have been going through?
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I hope I find more books by Bruce Brooks! I might even use one of them in Children's Literature with a Newberry theme!
My favorite story/chapter/section is "Out." It's subtle and nuanced, and I wasn't expecting the ending. I really liked "What Hearts?" also, which means something so different with the question mark at the end than the title does without punctuation. I guess that's the most impressive thing for me about Brooks' writing and what makes me want to read more--the subtlety. He writes books for children, but as an adult, I really appreciate the complexity of his characterization and observations about life through the eyes of kids. The only thing I didn't dislike but didn't exactly like is that Asa's story is very similar to Bix's in Moves with his mother's background. It makes me wonder about what Brooks may have been going through?
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I hope I find more books by Bruce Brooks! I might even use one of them in Children's Literature with a Newberry theme!
July 21, 2011
Continuing the July YA challenge, and making a dent in the Newbery award-winning books, the latest read is an insightful 1993 honor winner titled What Hearts by Bruce Brooks.
At the risk of redundancy, I've mentioned often that young adult books, including some of the later Newbery winners, are not fluff, and in fact deal with some particularly difficult life situations. This book is no exception!
Young Asa's life is suddenly uprooted when he returns home on the last day of first grade to learn that the house is empty and he and his mother are moving. Leaving behind his father, whom his mother states she no longer loves, Asa's mother selfishly immediately thrusts Asa into a life with a new boyfriend and living arrangement.
Lacking a transition time, precocious, sensitive Asa adjusts as best as possible. Astutely he grasps the knowledge that his new "father" is not a kind man and doesn't want the baggage of a little child.
The first night, Asa is taken to an amusement park, placed on an adult ride wherein he is suspended high up in the air for a long period of time while the ride violently shakes the small child. This is the beginning of cruel taunts and actions at the hands of a man who borders on malevolence.
While the subject matter is deep, there is also hope and a strong theme of spunkyness and resiliency.
Segmented into four separate sections, each dealing with the meaning of love, the definition of forgiveness, the power of friendship and the ability of the human spirit to somehow transcend difficulty, this is an incredibly powerful book.
Highly recommended.
At the risk of redundancy, I've mentioned often that young adult books, including some of the later Newbery winners, are not fluff, and in fact deal with some particularly difficult life situations. This book is no exception!
Young Asa's life is suddenly uprooted when he returns home on the last day of first grade to learn that the house is empty and he and his mother are moving. Leaving behind his father, whom his mother states she no longer loves, Asa's mother selfishly immediately thrusts Asa into a life with a new boyfriend and living arrangement.
Lacking a transition time, precocious, sensitive Asa adjusts as best as possible. Astutely he grasps the knowledge that his new "father" is not a kind man and doesn't want the baggage of a little child.
The first night, Asa is taken to an amusement park, placed on an adult ride wherein he is suspended high up in the air for a long period of time while the ride violently shakes the small child. This is the beginning of cruel taunts and actions at the hands of a man who borders on malevolence.
While the subject matter is deep, there is also hope and a strong theme of spunkyness and resiliency.
Segmented into four separate sections, each dealing with the meaning of love, the definition of forgiveness, the power of friendship and the ability of the human spirit to somehow transcend difficulty, this is an incredibly powerful book.
Highly recommended.
March 5, 2015
What Hearts is divided into four sections each dealing with a turning point in Asa's life - events such as his parents divorce as a young boy and learning to fit in at school after school as he moves multiple times with his mother and stepfather. During the entire story, we are in Asa's head and so only get to see things from his perspective. I actually found this to be quite interesting and very readable. Much more than I expected! My favorite segment was called "Not Blue" and told of Asa pairing up with a boy in his class to present a poem at a class Show Night. This won a Newbery Honor in 1993.
January 8, 2012
I was extremely disappointed with this book, which had seemed so promising. It follows Asa's story from the day he arrives home in first grade to find his mother all packed and ready to take him to a new home in North Carolina, with an old high school sweetheart. Asa learns to read people and react the way he thinks they would like him to react. By the end, he is in sixth grade and in love with a girl named Jean. The whole thing seemed pointless. Definitely not deserving of the accolades it received.
March 6, 2016
Not my favorite Newberry. Had to force myself to keep going through some wildly boring sports sections. The boy, dealing with a dysfunctional mother, mean step-father, and constant moves, was oddly unemotional. It was a story with some difficult, human issues, by the boy never really acted like a boy. The title is apt for the theme of the difficulty of love portrayed throughout the stories, but I just didn't love it. Deals with divorce, abuse, depression, moving and first love. Lots of painful and messy stuff. Wouldn't really recommend.
July 6, 2007
Bruce Brooks wrote some of my favorite children's/YA books. His prose is pristine--better than most adult fiction writers. And he writes about precocious kids (in elementary school), who come of age early. All you folks who got straight A's in elementary/middle school, who won spelling bees and did math counts...and had weird family problems, you'd be able to relate ^_^
June 12, 2016
Not a book about baseball despite the cover.
It is a terrific read about a 5 year-old growing to sixth grade while dealing w/divorce, friendships, fitting-in, constantly moving, a step-father, a mother's mental illness and first love.
Had the award existed ten years earlier, it might have received a Schneider award.
It is a terrific read about a 5 year-old growing to sixth grade while dealing w/divorce, friendships, fitting-in, constantly moving, a step-father, a mother's mental illness and first love.
Had the award existed ten years earlier, it might have received a Schneider award.
July 19, 2007
a newberry award winning young adult novel, and i see why. it relates 4 episodes in a sensitive boys life and tells them well.
April 17, 2021
I really enjoyed this book! I loved seeing Asa deal with his feelings. He had such good character development, it was like he was a real person. It was just so realistic, which I liked.
May 16, 2024
Do you want to be sad, but also thankful for your(hopefully) functional family? Then you'll love this book! Not my style though.
April 23, 2022
This book had an interesting main character and a rolling plot but it also was a bit weird to me. The main character is supposed to be a young boy but he has a very deep perception that is very adult-like. Not to say this isn’t completely believable, but I just couldn’t totally believe in him or relate. The themes and events in the story were good but then it trailed off and kind of left me wondering what it was all about.
March 6, 2019
This young protagonist of this book went thru the divorce of his parents and leaving the family home with (as we learn) his mentally ill mother and her new boyfriend. this young boy seemed very mature for age as he seemed to deal with all these changes in his life. I found it very interesting that there was little comment about his relationship with his father or contact with him. Asa seems to be able to adapt to the changes in a way most kids (in reality) could not . I gave this story 4 stars because I liked ASA.
April 7, 2018
...huh?
That was my first thought when I finished it. I am still pretty confused. It seemed very inconclusive and depresso. I didn't really understand the point of the book because I thought it was going to end like most divorce books do - yes, s/he is your stepmother/father...but they're getting nicer and you're getting closer and both of you are getting more comfortable with each other. And things are just going up from here.
But that didn't happen. Like, ?? How is this an ending.
I wanted to throw the book when Dave tells Ace he loves him and Ace just...leaves. Like, dude. Dude. Sure, ok, so he was a bully when you were younger and he's gruff and he doesn't really know how to work with you - but he's trying and he's really a lot nicer than he was. I just wanted to throw up my hands and call it quits. Thankfully it's a reasonably short read, so it wasn't hard to finish. I just found myself wishing things would turn out differently and they didn't.
I also felt like most of the things he mentioned in his life didn't help the plot (what little there was) move forward.
I think the hardest part for me was reading it from his pov - especially at the beginning. He's, what, six? Eight? And he's talking about things deeper than I've ever even thought about thinking! He says things and takes in things so differently that it made it hard for me to get into, or sympathize.
Unfortunately, after all the negative stuff I've said, I do like it. I was just confused - and I'm 99.5% positive it's because I'm too young for this book. I think it's like TKAM, Till We Have Faces, or King's Fifth - just one of those books you have to read when you're older. Besides, it was well-written even if he has an odd writing style.
That was my first thought when I finished it. I am still pretty confused. It seemed very inconclusive and depresso. I didn't really understand the point of the book because I thought it was going to end like most divorce books do - yes, s/he is your stepmother/father...but they're getting nicer and you're getting closer and both of you are getting more comfortable with each other. And things are just going up from here.
But that didn't happen. Like, ?? How is this an ending.
I wanted to throw the book when Dave tells Ace he loves him and Ace just...leaves. Like, dude. Dude. Sure, ok, so he was a bully when you were younger and he's gruff and he doesn't really know how to work with you - but he's trying and he's really a lot nicer than he was. I just wanted to throw up my hands and call it quits. Thankfully it's a reasonably short read, so it wasn't hard to finish. I just found myself wishing things would turn out differently and they didn't.
I also felt like most of the things he mentioned in his life didn't help the plot (what little there was) move forward.
I think the hardest part for me was reading it from his pov - especially at the beginning. He's, what, six? Eight? And he's talking about things deeper than I've ever even thought about thinking! He says things and takes in things so differently that it made it hard for me to get into, or sympathize.
Unfortunately, after all the negative stuff I've said, I do like it. I was just confused - and I'm 99.5% positive it's because I'm too young for this book. I think it's like TKAM, Till We Have Faces, or King's Fifth - just one of those books you have to read when you're older. Besides, it was well-written even if he has an odd writing style.
January 5, 2024
There’s this thing that Bruce Brooks does that I cannot describe in the way that I would like, but I will attempt to anyway. In some ways his prose reminds me of Stiefvater’s and Marie Rutkoski’s, two authors I admire immensely. His skill lies in his ability use language to describe human interactions, observations, and emotions that are rarely touched upon in books, much less children’s books.
It’s extraordinary to read – I had not realized that I, too, felt and saw and experienced these same things until he put them on the page. There is an incredible amount of nuance involved in his prose, an understanding of people, of psychology, of this emotional dance we all do with one another. The book feels as though it is written for adults, and yet, from the eyes of the young protagonist, he communicates these highly nuanced ideas in simple enough terms that a young adult can relate.
I enjoyed the plot itself, which follows Asa through his relationships with his abusive stepfather, his crush, and his special-needs classmate, but the real joy came from Asa’s intelligent and perceptive thoughts that made up the connective tissue between those plot points.
If you're ever interested in reading a Bruce Brooks novel, I highly recommend starting with my favorite - Dolores: Seven Stories About Her.
It’s extraordinary to read – I had not realized that I, too, felt and saw and experienced these same things until he put them on the page. There is an incredible amount of nuance involved in his prose, an understanding of people, of psychology, of this emotional dance we all do with one another. The book feels as though it is written for adults, and yet, from the eyes of the young protagonist, he communicates these highly nuanced ideas in simple enough terms that a young adult can relate.
I enjoyed the plot itself, which follows Asa through his relationships with his abusive stepfather, his crush, and his special-needs classmate, but the real joy came from Asa’s intelligent and perceptive thoughts that made up the connective tissue between those plot points.
If you're ever interested in reading a Bruce Brooks novel, I highly recommend starting with my favorite - Dolores: Seven Stories About Her.
August 7, 2013
Felt like it was written by an adult rather than through the eyes of a middle school aged boy.
"My, you are going to make me pull the flag all the way up the pole, aren't you? Look, my dear. Joel is full of sweetness and light, he was born full of sweetness and light, he'll live to be a hundred and the angels will be waiting for him with robes of gold, but--as his father and I and his teachers and I suspect you too know--while he's on this earth Joel could not find his own fanny with both hands. He is as close to helpless as you can get without being put on a leash."
"Trouble...doesn't just come from feeling bad when things are going fine. Trouble can also come from feeling good when you shouldn't....Look what's happened to you while I've been sitting her taking feelgood pills and watching TV. You've gone and fallen in love and gotten to be man enough to want to do something with it...probably just as much has happened to me, but I would never know it, not while I keep sitting here smiling at nothing."
"Moving--what was wrong with it, as a word, as a concept? As a life? Everything had to move; you could not really grow without movement. Pity the people who had to stay stuck in one place. Put it in a box and take to the road."
"My, you are going to make me pull the flag all the way up the pole, aren't you? Look, my dear. Joel is full of sweetness and light, he was born full of sweetness and light, he'll live to be a hundred and the angels will be waiting for him with robes of gold, but--as his father and I and his teachers and I suspect you too know--while he's on this earth Joel could not find his own fanny with both hands. He is as close to helpless as you can get without being put on a leash."
"Trouble...doesn't just come from feeling bad when things are going fine. Trouble can also come from feeling good when you shouldn't....Look what's happened to you while I've been sitting her taking feelgood pills and watching TV. You've gone and fallen in love and gotten to be man enough to want to do something with it...probably just as much has happened to me, but I would never know it, not while I keep sitting here smiling at nothing."
"Moving--what was wrong with it, as a word, as a concept? As a life? Everything had to move; you could not really grow without movement. Pity the people who had to stay stuck in one place. Put it in a box and take to the road."
March 12, 2009
Hmmmm. Not my favorite book. I finished it, but not because I loved it. I kept looking to see if maybe I had accidently picked up an abridged version by mistake or something; it just seemed so choppy. And we get more than half way through before we're told that Asa's mom is manic/depressive???? I mean, isn't that sort of an important detail? It becomes awfully important in the second half, so why aren't we even given an inkling of an idea in the first half? And his dad just disappears? And even though Asa describes this great relationship with him at first he never really gives him so much as another thought throughout the rest of the book? Even while he deals with his step-father? UGH!!!! This could have been a good book... except.... well.... IT ISN'T!!!! We never stay focused on anything long enough. You know what I will say? It's a great title. It really is. You have to get all the way to the end of the book to understand the title, but it's a good one. No, a great one. But that's the best thing I can say about this book. I will not be recommending it to anyone - middle school, young adult or adult.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 3, 2015
Pretty good book. On the upper-end of the 3-star range for sure.
The book starts off with the story of a kid who just wants to come home and tell his mom about the wonderful last day of first grade he had. He comes home to an aloof mom who doesn't listen to anything he says but tells him that she's leaving his dad. The same day she brings him to meet her boyfriend (already?!) who puts the kid on a small roller coaster at the beach and then gets mad at him when he starts screaming (not out of fear but because others are doing it).
Then there are a few more stories about the kid in different years in school. The boyfriend is now the stepfather, and he seems to not like that his new kid is a good hard-working smart kid. Really. Seems to feel threatened by it or something.
Anyway, the story is well-written, and it is interesting and captivating at times. Don't really like either the stepdad or the mom even, but I got to really like the kid. And I think that was what the author was trying to accomplish, seeing how much the life of this kid resembles that of the author himself. :o)
The book starts off with the story of a kid who just wants to come home and tell his mom about the wonderful last day of first grade he had. He comes home to an aloof mom who doesn't listen to anything he says but tells him that she's leaving his dad. The same day she brings him to meet her boyfriend (already?!) who puts the kid on a small roller coaster at the beach and then gets mad at him when he starts screaming (not out of fear but because others are doing it).
Then there are a few more stories about the kid in different years in school. The boyfriend is now the stepfather, and he seems to not like that his new kid is a good hard-working smart kid. Really. Seems to feel threatened by it or something.
Anyway, the story is well-written, and it is interesting and captivating at times. Don't really like either the stepdad or the mom even, but I got to really like the kid. And I think that was what the author was trying to accomplish, seeing how much the life of this kid resembles that of the author himself. :o)
December 29, 2013
This book serves it's purpose: to expose reality as it is. Although some people didn't like it because it does not portray "live as we want it to be," this is the reason why I was rather satisfied with this book. I guess this is also the reason why I don't like fantasy and I rather go for the more "realistic" fiction. Life is life, and this book does a fine rendition to life indeed. It describes the struggles of a dysfunctional family and what a boy must do to adapt to the varying changes that come with his parents' divorce and having to adapt to a stranger who never truly understood him and treated him with respect. This read also shows an insight into the boy's feelings and thoughts and provides with a meaningful array of experiences that many people in real life could relate to. Life is not perfect and this book portrays exactly this. Yes this book, in my opinion, is NOT the greatest newberry award winner, but it is still a great, truthful, human book.
May 11, 2016
This book serves it's purpose: to expose reality as it is. Although some people didn't like it because it does not portray "live as we want it to be," this is the reason why I was rather satisfied with this book. I guess this is also the reason why I don't like fantasy and I rather go for the more "realistic" fiction. Life is life, and this book does a fine rendition to life indeed. It describes the struggles of a dysfunctional family and what a boy must do to adapt to the varying changes that come with his parents' divorce and having to adapt to a stranger who never truly understood him and treated him with respect. This read also shows an insight into the boy's feelings and thoughts and provides with a meaningful array of experiences that many people in real life could relate to. Life is not perfect and this book portrays exactly this. Yes this book, in my opinion, is NOT the greatest newberry award winner, but it is still a great, truthful, human book.
May 11, 2010
I like this book because it is about how the life of a teenager can flip because of his or her parents' differences. Like in this book a boy named Asa is affected by his parent's divorce and his school grades go down. One day his mom tells him that they are moving without Asa'a father knowing! When they move back his life is a little better and he meets new people but its not the same without his father's prescence. I like this book because it shows how teenager's suffer and they are at risk at doing bad in things that they want to succeed at like getting into a good school. Parents should be more aware about how much their kids need them to influence them into their adulthood. When a child sees his parents argue theyre going to be traumatized for the rest of their lives.
January 7, 2016
Asa wants a stable life but he keeps having to move. At first, his mother divorces his father and they move to North Carolina to live in her new boyfriends's home. So, life continues to be tough for Asa. Dave, his new stepfather is mean. Also, Dave misses his important chance to play with Little Leauge because his mother, who is suffering from depression, gets sick from taking too much medicine. When Asa falls in love with Jean and lets her know, he finds out that he has to move again because his mom and stepfather Dave are getting divorced again. The, Asa realizes that since his life is full of constant changes, he has to learn to deal with it.
Some themes are learning to deal with change, how Asa grows/matures, and his loyalty to his friend.
Some themes are learning to deal with change, how Asa grows/matures, and his loyalty to his friend.
February 1, 2016
1993 Newbery Honor Book
This book shows the story of Asa's childhood in four separate stages. In stage one, Asa comes home from his last day in first grade to find that his parents are divorcing and he leaves with his mother to meet her boyfriend Dave. Dave is not a nice guy and is mean to him. In the second stage, Asa goes to his first day in fourth grade. This is his second fourth grade class because apparently he moves a lot. By this time, Dave has married his mother but he's still mean. The third stage deals with baseball and sports which is where the book lost me because I don't like sports writing. The last stage deals with his first love.
This book shows the story of Asa's childhood in four separate stages. In stage one, Asa comes home from his last day in first grade to find that his parents are divorcing and he leaves with his mother to meet her boyfriend Dave. Dave is not a nice guy and is mean to him. In the second stage, Asa goes to his first day in fourth grade. This is his second fourth grade class because apparently he moves a lot. By this time, Dave has married his mother but he's still mean. The third stage deals with baseball and sports which is where the book lost me because I don't like sports writing. The last stage deals with his first love.
July 24, 2017
This is a poignant story of a resilient boy facing some of the most difficult circumstances adults inflict on children. When his parents divorce (announced on first page so not a spoiler!), "now, for the first time, his life had a past, a past that would not get any bigger, that would always be shrinking but would never disappear." The boy's thoughts and author's descriptions carried me into the feelings and circumstances: ugly subjects using beautiful prose. I recommend it to third graders and above, especially to those who are dealing with divorce and stepparents.
October 11, 2010
This is about a thinking, rational and serious boy whose life changes when his mother and father divorce. He finds life with his step father quite different but being a thinking person he manages to get by. As the story moves on, Asa copes with his new life and his new "father" through athletics. Gradually, he learns that not everything can be thought out in advance. Sometimes you just have to feel to follow what is in the heart and to love no matter what.
April 27, 2015
What Hearts is a book about Asa. When Asa goes home after getting straight A's, he finds out his parents are getting a divorce. For Asa it is very hard adjusting to life with his stepfather. Asa later finds out that his mom has severe depression. The rest of the book is his adjusting of life with his mom and "fake dad" (the stepfather). I really liked this book since it teaches that sometimes it's hard to adjust to life after a devastating event.
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