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22nd out of 157 books
—
177 voters
Running Loose
Louie Banks has it made.He's got a starting spot on the football team, good friends, and a smart, beautiful girlfriend who loves him as much as he loves her.
Early in the fall, he sees all his ideas of fair play go up in smoke; by spring, what he cares about most has been destroyed. How can Louie keep going when he's lost everything?
Early in the fall, he sees all his ideas of fair play go up in smoke; by spring, what he cares about most has been destroyed. How can Louie keep going when he's lost everything?
Paperback, 224 pages
Published
April 1st 2003
by Greenwillow Books
(first published 1983)
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I absolutely loved this book. I would recommend it to high schoolers, escpecially those interested in sports. Louie is a high school senior that made it his goal to start on the football team in the fall. He reaches his goal and even gets the prettiest girl in high school to go out with him. Louie can't help but feel good about all that he has going for him. Then it all comes crashing down on him, and Louie must decide how to deal with his new found problems. Overall this book was great and show...more
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Jan 15, 2009
Sunny
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Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
4/10. If this were a movie, I would never watch it. Too much vomit. But, as a book, it was decent... I am just not a teenage boy or a sports person, so much of it escaped me.
Basic Plot: Louie, an average football player, takes a stand when the coach askes the team to play "dirty football" against Washington, an African American kid on the rival team. His best friend and his girlfriend stand by him, and his relationship with his girlfriend grows more intimate. Then,...more
4/10. If this were a movie, I would never watch it. Too much vomit. But, as a book, it was decent... I am just not a teenage boy or a sports person, so much of it escaped me.
Basic Plot: Louie, an average football player, takes a stand when the coach askes the team to play "dirty football" against Washington, an African American kid on the rival team. His best friend and his girlfriend stand by him, and his relationship with his girlfriend grows more intimate. Then,...more
Louie is pretty much your average guy: he wants to play football and he wants to spend time with his girlfriend. But things start to go awry when, during a game, Coach encourages the team to purposefully take out the star player of a neighboring team. It doesn’t help that the kid is black, not to mention incredibly talented. Louie can’t stomach it and in fit of instinctual disgust walks out of the game, never to return to the team again. It’s a downward spiral from there, and Louie has to figure...more
THis book wasn't the greatest book I've ever read but it wasn't bad at all. I love how the main character in this book, Louis, his life at the beginning was great, he had a girlfriend that was every guy's dream and a starting spot on the football team. Spoiler alert....I like how the author portrays Louis as a great guy, by sticking up for good sportsmanship in the game. the coach wanted his players to take one of the other teams best players, Washington, out of the game. Louis wasn't gonna do i...more
REQUIRED READING
Running Loose is the story of a teenage boy pushing through his everyday life. However his everyday life doesn't exactly follow stereotypical assumptions of a teenage life. After a difficult confrontation with his football coaches, he faces something most teens never have to deal with that is unimaginably tough.
A lot of people may think this book to be dry, boring, and uneventful. However I see this as the entire purpose of the book. Chris Crutcher is showing us exactly how the...more
Running Loose is the story of a teenage boy pushing through his everyday life. However his everyday life doesn't exactly follow stereotypical assumptions of a teenage life. After a difficult confrontation with his football coaches, he faces something most teens never have to deal with that is unimaginably tough.
A lot of people may think this book to be dry, boring, and uneventful. However I see this as the entire purpose of the book. Chris Crutcher is showing us exactly how the...more
Chris Crutcher doesn't shy away from the realities of high school boys or difficult situations in this book, which, despite its cover, is about far more than football. When Louie Banks' racist football coach sets the team's most violent player on the opposing team's black star player, Washington, Louie quits the team. He sticks by his beliefs, despite the negative reactions of his fellow students and the anger of coach and school principal alike. With the support of his parents and his girlfrien...more
I liked the theme of honor that ran through this book. It focused on doing the right thing for the right reasons. It documents the struggles of a boy who is trying to figure out what's right and act on it.
Louie Banks is all set to play the football season of his life. He's got a great girlfriend, Becky. Life is good. Then his football coach tells the team to take out the black player on another team. When the team acquiesces during the game, Louie protests against the foul play and quits the tea...more
Louie Banks is all set to play the football season of his life. He's got a great girlfriend, Becky. Life is good. Then his football coach tells the team to take out the black player on another team. When the team acquiesces during the game, Louie protests against the foul play and quits the tea...more
WHOLE CLASS READING
Louie is by no means perfect, but he does try to live his life by certain principles. He believes in respect, honor on the football field, and loyalty in friendship. So when his sporting coach has the team play dirty to get rid of a skilled black player on a rival team, Louie loses it. He quits the team and challenges school authorities over the issue, only to see little come from his efforts. And that's not all–when his girlfriend gets in a car accident, louie feels like his...more
Louie is by no means perfect, but he does try to live his life by certain principles. He believes in respect, honor on the football field, and loyalty in friendship. So when his sporting coach has the team play dirty to get rid of a skilled black player on a rival team, Louie loses it. He quits the team and challenges school authorities over the issue, only to see little come from his efforts. And that's not all–when his girlfriend gets in a car accident, louie feels like his...more
Louie Banks is a regular high school football player in a small town in Idaho. He wants to do his best, whether in sports, school, or just life, but gets some curveballs thrown at him. His football coach tells them to play dirty against a rival team's newest black player and when a dehabilitating play yet no call is made, Louie quits the team, with the support of his parents and really wonderful girlfriend. He learns a lot about love and what's right or wrong, and does it in pure, high-school bo...more
The book Running Loose by Chris Crutcher is a very good book for teens and can be a very connecting and influential. It was both to me. Running Loose is a book about a kid named Louie who is about to be in his last year in highscool. He has his life pretty much set for his last year of highschool. He's got a starting spot on the football team, girlfriend of his dreams and everybody else, and a good loyal best friend. Also has to good jobs that he works at. Works at his dads gas station and works...more
Louie is a all around good guy heading into his final school year. He's finally making an impression on his football team, but it turns into an impression that runs him off of it. When his coach shows racism on the field, Louie walks from the team and begins to search for more meaning in his life. His family backs his decision and his new girlfriend does too. Throughout the school year, Louie grows and learns about himself through trials, death (his girlfriend), and new hope. He fights against a...more
REQUIRED BOOK
Running Loose recounts Louie Banks final year in high school. He thinks he has everything going his way as he is doing well on the football team and has a girlfriend. However, when Louie's coach asks the team to purposely hurt an opponent in order to ensure their team's win, Louie walks away from the football team. Once Louie leaves, much of his life changes. Football was so key in the town that many cannot understand why he left, and shun him for it. Through it all, Becky, Louie's...more
Running Loose recounts Louie Banks final year in high school. He thinks he has everything going his way as he is doing well on the football team and has a girlfriend. However, when Louie's coach asks the team to purposely hurt an opponent in order to ensure their team's win, Louie walks away from the football team. Once Louie leaves, much of his life changes. Football was so key in the town that many cannot understand why he left, and shun him for it. Through it all, Becky, Louie's...more
Running Loose features Louie Banks, an average guy who just wants to be on the football team and enjoy time with his girlfriend, Becky. However, things change when his head football coach encourages the team to purposefully injure the star player for another team, Washington. Tension runs high, especially since the coach and team also speak inappropriately against Washington for being black as well. Louie chooses to stand up for what he believes in, quitting the team with the support of his fami...more
Louie starts off his year thinking it will be the best year of his life. He has finally become someone on the football team and is dating the greatest girl in the school. When the coach of the team encourages Boomer, the bully on the football team, to beat on Washington, the black superstar of the opposing team, just because of his race, Louie is forced to take a stand. He quits/is kicked off of the team, is banned from playing any other school sports, and is almost expelled for his actions. His...more
REQUIRED
"Running Loose" is Chris Crutcher's first in a long line of "boy oriented" sport novels that, I suppose you could say, transcend the genre. In this first book, the story of a young man named Louie whose life slowly starts to fall apart after he quits the football team and looses his girlfriend, you can see a lot of slightly less mature themes that develop later in Cruther's writing. I had mixed feelings about this story. I did very much like that the conflict and the issues were more sub...more
"Running Loose" is Chris Crutcher's first in a long line of "boy oriented" sport novels that, I suppose you could say, transcend the genre. In this first book, the story of a young man named Louie whose life slowly starts to fall apart after he quits the football team and looses his girlfriend, you can see a lot of slightly less mature themes that develop later in Cruther's writing. I had mixed feelings about this story. I did very much like that the conflict and the issues were more sub...more
This book is really good. It has a lot of realistic teenage voice. it has themes of ...taking a stand...love...remembering...healing...forgiveness...giving your all (having a lot of heart. It follows the senior high school year of your more or less average kid in highschool in - in a rural town in Idaho. The main character is likable and does stupid things in the nature that kids will do (who am I fooling...that I STILL do...) and it is just a really fun, heartfelt read. I think it would apply w...more
I haven't read many (any, that I can think off) sports books, but I've seen plenty of inspirational movies. This could be made into one. Louie's senior year of high school isn't easy. When his football coach urges the team to injure the best athlete on the opposing team (who happens to be black), Louie sees the injustice of it and quits. Jasper, the principal, and Coach Lednecky attempt to bar him from all future interscholastic activities. The one thing that helps him through his troubles is hi...more
I can't say that I have read too many books centered around sports, but I might give them more of a chance because I really did enjoy this book. Louie was a very relatable character and I think he was really likeable. At least, I really liked him. In this coming-of-age novel, Louie has to face emotional challenges, but physical ones as well, and he pushed himself in both areas. Louie was great, but the other characters in the book really helped make the story what it was. Carter was like the bes...more
This is definitely a sporty boy book by Chris Crutcher--most of his books have been challenged or banned sometime or other.
Louie Banks is a senior on the football team. That is, until his coach tells his team to take Washington (an AFrican-American on the other team) out. Louie doesn't agree with this dirty tactic and quits. But what he doesn't realize is how much he will lose besides football by standing up for what he believes is right.
I didn't really enjoy this book because it wasn't really w...more
Louie Banks is a senior on the football team. That is, until his coach tells his team to take Washington (an AFrican-American on the other team) out. Louie doesn't agree with this dirty tactic and quits. But what he doesn't realize is how much he will lose besides football by standing up for what he believes is right.
I didn't really enjoy this book because it wasn't really w...more
I read this book pretty fast. I don't love sports, though I have recently gained some enjoyment from them as a spectator, so I was surprised at how easy this book was to read even though it was based around sports. The narrator was a cool guy and seemed very authentic. I also liked the way he dealt with the problems in his life. He is definitely not the perfect character which I think only makes him more authentic. Reading this book made me remember when Chris Crutcher visited my high school/hom...more
I was extremely skeptical when I picked up this book. I am not a big fan of sports, and spending time reading a poorly written novel about how awesome it is to play sports is not my idea of a good time or good literature. Crutcher's young adult sports novel completely opened my mind about this mini-genre. Running Loose is very well written! It has such fantastic humor and is so honest. Crutcher doesn't paint a superficial image of teenagers as these solely impulsive beings who are sex-maniacs an...more
Running Loose is a fictional young adult novel about Louie Banks and his experiences during his senior year of high school. Most of the novel revolves around him standing up for his beliefs and his relationship with Becky. Many of the events in the novel deal with sports, such as football and track. I was surprised that I actually enjoyed this novel. I originally didn't think I would like it because the cover showed a football player, and I don't like football. Yet the characters in the book see...more
There were parts of this book I enjoyed. I liked the way it was written, I felt like I was there with Louie and he was right there, telling me his story. I liked how he was a pretty ordinary character, very believable. I could see how teenagers would easily relate to him and aspects of his high school experience.
One thing that bothered me about the book was the almost sex scene. I feel like I have a relatively high tolerance of those things, however, this one I felt was unnecessary. The aspect...more
One thing that bothered me about the book was the almost sex scene. I feel like I have a relatively high tolerance of those things, however, this one I felt was unnecessary. The aspect...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher sports fiction, coming-of-age, love
Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World was interesting. Speak was interesting. Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry was interesting. But none of those wonderful books really fascinated. With an underdog/sub-par athlete who has a good friend in the star and “town hero” Carter Sampson and a girlfriend in the cutest, smartest, and coolest girl in Trout, Idaho, the reader cannot help but relate with him, even if the reader is a girl, or a boy w...more
Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World was interesting. Speak was interesting. Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry was interesting. But none of those wonderful books really fascinated. With an underdog/sub-par athlete who has a good friend in the star and “town hero” Carter Sampson and a girlfriend in the cutest, smartest, and coolest girl in Trout, Idaho, the reader cannot help but relate with him, even if the reader is a girl, or a boy w...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This is one of my favorite books that I have read this summer. It follows the senior year of high school student Louie. He lives in a small town where high school football is everything--and he is on the team. He has trained all summer long with his best friend Carter so that he can play well when football season starts.
He works so hard, but then he gives up everything to stand up for something he believes in. Early in the season, the football coach tells his team to purposefully injure a black...more
He works so hard, but then he gives up everything to stand up for something he believes in. Early in the season, the football coach tells his team to purposefully injure a black...more
Running Loose is a fiction book. Louie, the 17 year old protagonist, deals with varying issues ranging from the integrity he has not to follow his coaches orders and injure someone on the opposing football team, to having sex for the first time, to the death of a loved one. The book follows Louie from one unfortunate event after another during his senior year in high school. In the end, after all of these misfortunate events occurring, Louie learns what is most important in life. I liked the way...more
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Chris Crutcher's writing is controversial, and has been frequently challenged and even banned by individuals who want to censor his books by removing them from libraries and classrooms. Running Loose and Athletic Shorts were on the ALA's top 100 list of most frequently challenged books for 1990-2000. His books generally feature teens coping with serious problems, including abusive parents, racial...more
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