Now available in paperback, Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli's hilarious, poignant story of cocky seventh-grade superjock Crash Coogan.&#...
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Jan 19, 2009
Ash R.
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"Crash" John Coogan is the typical jock. At least what most of us have in mind as a jock. Crash has a wonderful life, until life deals him a hand that he could not have expected. When Crash's grandfather unexpectedly has a stroke, Crash unconsciously steps back and re-evaluates his life without even realizing he's doing it. Suddenly, his cool friends don't seem so cool anymore. Things that were once the most important in his life, become trivial. As a result of his grandfather's illn
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Jun 15, 2008
Susan
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At first glance this book looks like it's for children, but even as a teenager and adults we can all learn from this book. Spinelli decides to write this book for a younger audience, but even though the wording is very easy I liked the context. For example, I like the characterization and how Spinelli makes it so easy to understand what each character is thinking and what they want. For example, the main character "Crash" actually feels jealous of his neighbor Penn, even though he beat
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Jun 08, 2009
I myself am a 7th grade jock just like John coogan the main character in the novel Crash
by Jerry Spinelli. In this book I was really able to relate to the main character John.
This book is about John coogan who plays on his schools football and track team and is
one of the bullys at his school Springfield middle school he likes to pick on this one kid
named Penn Webb because he is a nerd and a cheerleader to. More...
by Jerry Spinelli. In this book I was really able to relate to the main character John.
This book is about John coogan who plays on his schools football and track team and is
one of the bullys at his school Springfield middle school he likes to pick on this one kid
named Penn Webb because he is a nerd and a cheerleader to. More...
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Feb 08, 2009
Andres
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John "Crash" Coogan lives to play football and he never comes in second. He is arrogant, superficial and concerned primarily with outside appearances and accomplishments. To Crash, Penn Webb is the epitome of uncool. He gets his clothes from second-hand stores, he's vegetarian, and he's a Quaker (he eats oat burgers) which means he doesn't believe in violence.
Crash and his best friend Mike love to make life miserable for Penn. It becomes clear that Crash is jealous of Penn and h More...
Crash and his best friend Mike love to make life miserable for Penn. It becomes clear that Crash is jealous of Penn and h More...
Oct 02, 2011
Jessica
rated it: 
"My real name is John. John Coogan. But everybody calls me Crash, even my parents." In this story, Crash is a young boy in middle school who is a sports fanatic. Crash is very competitive, and somewhat of a bully to his new neighbor Penn Webb. Penn is singled out because he is "different." His Quaker lifestyle causes him to be judged and viewed as weak by the other boys at school. However, Penn doesn't let it get him down. Throughout the novel some people may view him as naiv
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Apr 04, 2011
Jackie
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John "Crash" Coogan has always been strong, fast, and athletic...and he has always thought his neighbor, Penn Webb, was odd, quirky, and unnaturally optimistic. Entering 7th grade, Crash is the man, the football hero, and a bully, too, especially when teamed with friend Mike DeLuca. They mercilessly pick on Penn.
Crash and his 5th grade sister, Abby love their grandfather, Scooter and when he comes to stay for good, they are thrilled. Scooter comes to his football games whi More...
Crash and his 5th grade sister, Abby love their grandfather, Scooter and when he comes to stay for good, they are thrilled. Scooter comes to his football games whi More...
Mar 10, 2011
travelgirlut
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Though this book seems simple on the surface, I think it hits home on a few topics sensitive to lots of people. The main character is a junior high football jock, and a mean one at that. He comes to find out that life is more than middle school pranks and does a bit of growing up. In that sense, I wonder if the book fails to find its market demographic. How many mean football jocks out there are readers? But as a mother, reading about the family in the book makes me really sad. Both parent
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Jan 04, 2011
Crash
Crash is a touching and very beautiful story in my opinion. I really love this book. I used to love reading a lot and was reading countless novels, but since I have slowed down and completely stopped almost. However, this book makes me want to start again, and gives me hope. I love the whole feel and lesson learned in the book.
I really can relate to Crash Coogan in a lot of ways. I think that is another reason that I like it so much is because it hints to me at a pe More...
Crash is a touching and very beautiful story in my opinion. I really love this book. I used to love reading a lot and was reading countless novels, but since I have slowed down and completely stopped almost. However, this book makes me want to start again, and gives me hope. I love the whole feel and lesson learned in the book.
I really can relate to Crash Coogan in a lot of ways. I think that is another reason that I like it so much is because it hints to me at a pe More...
Aug 04, 2010
Sandra
rated it: 
I love Jerry Spinelli’s books. I can’t believe it took me this long to read this one. I grabbed it from my shelves to go home with me over the summer. I’m glad I moved it up the list. This is the story of three young boys and the influence they have on those around them.
From the minute Crash Coogan met Penn Webb he’d decided he didn’t like him. Not only did he not like him he was going to do everything possible to make his life miserable. Then Mike moves in and becomes Crash’s best More...
From the minute Crash Coogan met Penn Webb he’d decided he didn’t like him. Not only did he not like him he was going to do everything possible to make his life miserable. Then Mike moves in and becomes Crash’s best More...
Dec 12, 2009
Seana
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i loved this book becuase it is funny and it really teaches kid what can happen if they bully someone for example crash liked this girl and crash had a friend named well i forgot but he was a vegitarian and crash was making fun of him for that so the girl that crash liked heard about him making fun of that boy and she didnt want to have anything to do with him anymore and the girl crash like was on the kids side that crash was making fun of because he is a vegitairn so when crash came to school
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Jul 12, 2009
Rich
rated it: 
Crash is about a boy named, John Coogan, but every body calls him crash. The book talks about his life as a seventh grader. This book takes place in a philidelphia suburb. The main characters in this book are, Crash, his best friend Mike Daluca, his grand pa, Scooter, and a nerd in his class, Penn Web.
The connection I made in this book is a text-to-world connection. I made this connection because theirs always a popular kid in school (crash) and hes always has his little helper mon More...
The connection I made in this book is a text-to-world connection. I made this connection because theirs always a popular kid in school (crash) and hes always has his little helper mon More...
Nov 10, 2011
This story is about Crash Coogan and Penn Webb. Crash isn’t his real name it’s really John. They both live in Pennsylvania. They both live on the same street. Right from the start when Penn moved there from North Dakota, Crash knew that the street wasn’t big enough for the both of them. That was the summer before 1st grade. That was 6 years ago. Now the both of them are in the 7th grade. Crash is the football star, better than anybody on his team, better than all of the eighth graders. He pr
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Dec 03, 2008
Stacey
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Jerry Spinelli’s book, Crash, is a realistic fiction story appropriate for upper elementary students.
The two main themes of the story Crash are friendship and bullying. The book begins with two first graders, Crash and Penn, meeting in their neighborhood. Penn immediately tries to befriend Crash but Crash wants nothing to do with him. Penn is considered a dork who wears second hand clothes and is a vegetarian. As the boys grew older, Crash and his friend Mike begin to bully Penn More...
The two main themes of the story Crash are friendship and bullying. The book begins with two first graders, Crash and Penn, meeting in their neighborhood. Penn immediately tries to befriend Crash but Crash wants nothing to do with him. Penn is considered a dork who wears second hand clothes and is a vegetarian. As the boys grew older, Crash and his friend Mike begin to bully Penn More...
Nov 23, 2010
Jill
rated it:
I want to give this more than three stars! I hate when this happens.
Jerry Spinelli is kind of crapshoot as far as I am concerned. He writes some really, really good books but some can be mediocre. This one leaned towards the really, really good side. It was about a super douchebag who is really into sports and being a douchebag to everyone around him. Then little Penn Webb comes into his life and eventually he "comes of age" so to speak.
Penn Webb is just another More...
Jerry Spinelli is kind of crapshoot as far as I am concerned. He writes some really, really good books but some can be mediocre. This one leaned towards the really, really good side. It was about a super douchebag who is really into sports and being a douchebag to everyone around him. Then little Penn Webb comes into his life and eventually he "comes of age" so to speak.
Penn Webb is just another More...
Oct 10, 2009
Kiana
rated it:
The book I chose to read was Crash. This was a book that I just pulled out from my teacher's bookshelf. I read the description of what the book was going to be about n the back and it looked like an interesting book. This book was about how a boy named Crash Coogan(a football player) and his best friend Mike, tease a boy named Penn Webb. At the end, I just felt bad about how they treated Webb but Crash finally stopped. What I liked about the author's writing (Jerry Spinelli) was that he got star
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Mar 08, 2010
Regular Reading response
I am currently in the middle of this book. So far i really like it and i find the issues and problems the characters face in this book realistic and interesting. I think each character has a unique personality and are very interesting.
Two issues and ideas that have come up in my book are envy and superiority. Crash thinks he is so much better than Penn Webb because he's the star football player, he has a lot more money, he eats meat, and he isn't More...
I am currently in the middle of this book. So far i really like it and i find the issues and problems the characters face in this book realistic and interesting. I think each character has a unique personality and are very interesting.
Two issues and ideas that have come up in my book are envy and superiority. Crash thinks he is so much better than Penn Webb because he's the star football player, he has a lot more money, he eats meat, and he isn't More...
Jun 15, 2011
Alison
rated it:
Can you believe this wasn’t a re-read book for me? For the longest time, I’ve had this idea in my mind that Jerry Spinelli is a quintessential young adult/children’s author. When I got to thinking more about it, I realized that I really actually had not read much by him. Sure, I read Stargirl for my Children’s Literature class in college and Love, Stargirl after the class was over but that was it. So when my Young Adult Literature teacher told us we were having SSR daily, I immediately grabbed t
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Sep 06, 2009
Kaitlyn
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this book is about a boy named John Cogan.everyobne calls him crash except for one boy named Pen web. crash and penn both meet in the summer beofre 1st grade. from when theyn first meet Crash hated him. when they startd to get older Crash still hated him. Pen was always nice to crash always just push aside what Crash and his friends would do. soon Pen starts to get things that Crash wnats and that gets crahs really angry. then soon Crash starts to feel differently about Penn and crash soon has
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Feb 01, 2010
Jay
rated it:
CRASH
Crash’s real name was John. John got his name Crash because on Christmas he got a football helmet and his cousins came over that he had never seen before and when he saw them he tackled them out the door and they got out the house like a rat getting chase by a cat.
Another part about crash is that he does not like boring kid. He saw a kid down the street that look like he was coming to his house but he paid him no mind he kept getting clo More...
Crash’s real name was John. John got his name Crash because on Christmas he got a football helmet and his cousins came over that he had never seen before and when he saw them he tackled them out the door and they got out the house like a rat getting chase by a cat.
Another part about crash is that he does not like boring kid. He saw a kid down the street that look like he was coming to his house but he paid him no mind he kept getting clo More...
Dec 13, 2011
Gretchen
rated it:
Crash by Jerry Spinelli is a novel about a young boy and his experiences with his family, friends and of course, football. Crash constantly torments his neighbor Penn Webb for being such a loser, and he teases his sister and other classmates too. Crash really only gets enjoyment out of playing football and being around his grandfather Scooter. The novel shows Crash’s change from teasing bully to emotionally evolved boy.
This book is pretty good. It’s very easy to read and the plot is s More...
This book is pretty good. It’s very easy to read and the plot is s More...
May 24, 2011
I got this book for Easter. It is called Crash. It is about a boy named Crash Coogan. The reason he is called Crash is because one Christmas he got a football helmet and he ran right through his cousin Bridget and knocked her into the snow. Now he is a typical high school jock. Then, a new kid moves into next door. And Crash already hates him His name is Penn. Crash thinks he is the dumbest kid ever. ( Even though Penn is very, very smart.) But Penn thinks Crash and him are going to best friend
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Apr 09, 2011
Emily
rated it:
I read the book crash because I had read it when I was younger, in 4th grade for a spring break reading. I had remembered thinking that it was the best book ever. That made me wants to read it again for a short easy read.
The book wasn't quite as good as I remembered it being, probably because I had already known what was going to happen. But I did like how there was still some funny parts, and there was times that I was anxious to see what was going to happen next. Some parts More...
The book wasn't quite as good as I remembered it being, probably because I had already known what was going to happen. But I did like how there was still some funny parts, and there was times that I was anxious to see what was going to happen next. Some parts More...
Nov 13, 2010
Sherry
rated it:
"Crash" is one of the best middle-school novels out there! Spinelli's narrative flows so well it's addictive - you cannot put this book down. Faster and faster you read, part of this boy's journey toward a more mature perspective on what it means to be a good friend, kind and completely accepting of others, namely friends and family, and to appreciate love and loss due to age and the passage of time. Crash comes to understand how the adult-child roles people play within family chang
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Mar 26, 2009
cheyenne
rated it:
the plot in this book is that crash meets pen and he doesn't like him. so he trys to ingore him but pen really wants to be friends with crash. when crash and pen are in high school crash trys out for the football team. but pen trys out for cheerleading team and people make fun of him. pen is alwas there for crash even when crash doesn't want him to be his friend.
i can connect to this book becuase i have friends that are there for me. when ever i need a friend to be there for me i have a More...
i can connect to this book becuase i have friends that are there for me. when ever i need a friend to be there for me i have a More...
Aug 07, 2011
Sandie
rated it:
I didn't think that I would love another book of Spinelli's as much as Stargirl, but this book was fantastic. I loved the read (about 2 hours) and am looking forward to reading more by him. The book follows Crash (John Patrick Coogan) as he navigates elementary and junior high school, alts the while following the parallel life of Penn Webb. Penn is a scrawny kid new to Pennsylvania and the neighborhood. Penn is a Quaker, vegetarian, button-toting, second-hand wearer who will not fight back...eve
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Oct 05, 2011
Clint
rated it:
Crash is a classic, hilarious, just plain great story that will leave you laughing and enjoying yourself once you close the book. I read this book in two hours non-stop, completely voluntary; It was just a great book. The book starts with an introduction of the main character “Crash”, and how he obtained the violent nickname. The intro story and the little stories through the book give his name justice and make you enjoy the character so much more. Crash is just a unstoppable winning machine who
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Aug 20, 2009
Victoria
rated it:
They call him Crash because that's what he does, crashes through life with no regard for everything around him.
John "Crash" Coogan is entering 7th grade in his middle school career. And it's shaping up to be an interesting one indeed. Crash is ready to hang with his best friend Michael, dominate the football team, and get to know Jane Forbes, his suddenly drop-dead beautiful classmate, a little better.
And he wants to continue the longstanding tradition of hara More...
John "Crash" Coogan is entering 7th grade in his middle school career. And it's shaping up to be an interesting one indeed. Crash is ready to hang with his best friend Michael, dominate the football team, and get to know Jane Forbes, his suddenly drop-dead beautiful classmate, a little better.
And he wants to continue the longstanding tradition of hara More...
Mar 09, 2010
Rjbailitz
rated it:
Ron Bailitz 3-9-10 Period 8
Title: Crash
Author: Jerry Spinelli
Pages: 162
Summary
Crash is about a seventh grader named John who picks on a different kid, but later comes to like him.
Passage
Page: 157-158
Paragraph: 5-7
"No practice on Friday. The coach took four relay runners to Franklin Field in his car. Their race was scheduled at 2:20 p.m. At 2:20 p.m. I was sitting in Math class. I tried to picture the race at Franklin Field, More...
Title: Crash
Author: Jerry Spinelli
Pages: 162
Summary
Crash is about a seventh grader named John who picks on a different kid, but later comes to like him.
Passage
Page: 157-158
Paragraph: 5-7
"No practice on Friday. The coach took four relay runners to Franklin Field in his car. Their race was scheduled at 2:20 p.m. At 2:20 p.m. I was sitting in Math class. I tried to picture the race at Franklin Field, More...
Apr 08, 2011
Chelsie
rated it:
Crash Coogan is the typical cocky jock. Ok, his name isn't really Crash, but a long time ago before he can even remember he got a football helmet for Christmas, and as soon as he put it on he tackled his cousin and she landed on her butt in the snow. Ever since then, well, people just called him Crash and he kept running people over. Life is great until it get's turned upside down with a weird, quirky kid that tries to call him his best friend.
This book is hilarious. I first read it More...
This book is hilarious. I first read it More...
