Lincoln is in a jam when his basketball team at his new school--where the students are rich and mostly white--faces his old team from the barrio on...
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reviews
Oct 11, 2011
Caroline
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This is definitely a very young adolescent novel geared towards males. I feel like this is sort of the male equivalent to fluffy young female adolescent reading that often gets made fun of. The reading level is not very advanced; however, Soto's book does seem like it would connect with students from a latino culture, trying to fit into a whtie world. I'm half latina, and I found it really cool to hear the characters speaking in Spanglish and observing the perspective of this particular cultu
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May 25, 2011
Nix
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Jun 14, 2010
Rachel
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Taking Sides is about a boy (Lincoln) who moves from the ghetto part of town to a nice neighborhood. He likes the peace and quiet of his new home, but he begins to miss his old home when he goes to a school with mostly white kids. Then things get worse when the basketball team at his new school is scheduled to play his old school. He feels self conscious about playing his old friends, especially when they all wear K-mart brand shoes and his new team squeaks across the floor in Air Jordans.
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Jun 11, 2010
Justin
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Taking sides is a fictitious coming of age story about finding one's own identity. Lincoln Mendoza is a really good basketball player and everything is going well for him at his school. He is popular and has tons of friends. But one day his house gets broken into and his mother decides that their neighborhood is too unsafe and they need to move. They move into a white neighborhood, and Lincoln's life starts to go downhill. He is not white and he has a hard time fitting in. Race is a big issue th
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Jan 27, 2010
Shauny alliknowisgo
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Jan 01, 2009
Daisy
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Lincoln Mendoza is a basketball player for Franklin Junior High in the barrio of San Francisco, but when his house was robbed, his mother decides they should move to a better neighborhood, ten miles away.Lincoln likes it at first, but then he begins to miss his old friends and his old school.He is homesick. He has a fight with Tony, his best friend from the barrio, also his divorced mother has a white boyfriend who Lincoln doesnt like, his basketball coach doesn't like him at all, he hurts his
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Jan 09, 2011
Stephon
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right now i just had checked it out and i haven't read it yet.
Now that i finished taking sides i think the book is really good. The book taking sides is about a boy named Lincoln who likes to play basketball with his friends. Then when Lincoln wants to play basketball for his school Franklin he can't play because his mom tells him that they are moving to a different city and that he has to leave his friends. Then when he leaves he starts attending Columbus high school and starts t More...
Now that i finished taking sides i think the book is really good. The book taking sides is about a boy named Lincoln who likes to play basketball with his friends. Then when Lincoln wants to play basketball for his school Franklin he can't play because his mom tells him that they are moving to a different city and that he has to leave his friends. Then when he leaves he starts attending Columbus high school and starts t More...
Jun 14, 2010
Sarah
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Taking Sides is a fiction novel that explores the concept of competing tribes like in Romeo and Juliet in a more simple and modern context. Lincoln is a young man who changes schools when his family moves. As a star basketball player, he has to choose sides when he faces playing his old teammates. At his new school, the players wear name brand shoes and warm-up suits, but at Franklin High, his buddies wear hand-me-downs and have less. He realizes this is unfair but lives stuck between th
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Mar 09, 2011
Catherine
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I read this book in seventh grade and hated it, now i am in the 10th grade and my younger sister (who is the 7th grade herself) was reading it, so i thought i'd give it another try, and hoped that i turned a bit smarter and would appreciate it a bit more.
I am absolutely sorry to say that it was even worse than i remembered, and i dropped it before reaching its middle...
The plot was too slow, the characters too passive (for lack of a better word), and 5he whole story too "normal More...
I am absolutely sorry to say that it was even worse than i remembered, and i dropped it before reaching its middle...
The plot was too slow, the characters too passive (for lack of a better word), and 5he whole story too "normal More...
Dec 19, 2009
Sabrina
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After another break-in to he and his mother's house, Lincoln's mom decides to move them out of the ghetto and into the suburbs. Even though Lincoln knows he should be happy to be in a suburban school, he is not. He misses his old friends and school. He feels left out because he is a minority in the new school. After getting into a fight with his best friend, Lincoln feels more frustrated when his mom starts dating a new boyfriend. He feels isolated and alone. Basketball used to make him ha
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Sep 03, 2010
Ramir
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The book “Taking Sides” was overall an okay book, it was just enough to satisfy me. I think the plot of the book was very well written. I think the author made the story very interesting. He made it interesting by making it dramatic when the main character, Lincoln began to get new friends and as he lost his old ones. Something that I really admired about the book was that it seemed realistic. I enjoyed it even more because it involved basketball.
Nov 17, 2010
Daniel
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This was one of my favorite stories. It is a great book for a high school athlete. It is about a boy about our age, who has to move to the other side of town, and transfers schools. He was the best basketball player on his old schools team, and now he is one of the best on his new team. There is only one problem. His currant school faces his old school in basketball. He must learn to face his old friends, but still play hard and try his best.
Jul 05, 2009
Alison
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I am a huge Gary Soto fan, but this book fell short of my expectations. The story starts out wonderfully with the authentic characters Gary Soto is such a specialist at drawing. However, the plot completely fizzles out at the end of the book. It's as if Soto lost enthusiasm for the story. Still, his honest account of Hispanic Americans living in California is always touching, so it has its very worthwhile moments...
Sep 06, 2010
The book I read was Taking Sides. The book was about phenom basketball player Lincoln Mendoza choosing either to play for his team or not play at all. In the end Lincoln chose the decision to play for himself.Lincoln feels self conscious of the fact that he plays in Air Jordans and they play play in K-mart shoes. In this passage he learns a lesson of friendship that he will never forget.
Jun 21, 2010
Brandon
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I loved this book. This book is amazing with problems. The main character doesn't want to lose his side. He wants to be part of where he came from. But soon he is forgetting spanish and he does't want to. Basketball is like his everything. He can do anything in ball. Lincoln moves into a poor neightborhood in the story and even through all the struggles he makes it through all that and thats what matters.
May 10, 2011
this book was about a boy name lincoln and he played on the basketball team for his school , and he never liked to pass the ball , he was always tryna be like the star of the team , so the coach sat him out for one game ,and he got mad at him so they started to argue in the middle of the game. Lincoln and his friends and parents stopped the fight , so they was cool after that
Nov 05, 2009
this book is about a boy named linclon mendoza, who has moved to a new school. At his new nobody treats him with respect, but will linclon try to fit it?
when basketball season comes linclon joins the basketball team and one game he faces his old schools teams. will lincoln play his best against his new teamates
when basketball season comes linclon joins the basketball team and one game he faces his old schools teams. will lincoln play his best against his new teamates
Sep 09, 2010
I think that this book is about a kid who is in athletics who is about to play a sport when another kid is pretty much a bully to him and his friends. I read about when he was in the locker room and his friend was pinned against the wall by another bigger kid and his friend was just talking to him.
Sep 03, 2009
Sandra
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Lincoln Mendoza has moved from the hard, Hispanic barrio where he grew up to a white suburb, and now goes to a mostly white school. Though he plays basketball for his new school, he still feels tied to his old barrio friends. So what does he do when the two school play each other? Positive.
May 07, 2010
*LadyElk#30!*(KD)
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this is a very well written book but it lacks any main plot. its very interesting, really, because theres no problem but once it got to a very early place, i couldnt but it down, no literally i droped my sucker on it and my dad had to pry it off my hand
Mar 11, 2011
This was ANOTHER awful school book...I think that when people need money badly, they just write anything down and call it a "novel". Then they give it to schools...and unfortunately, schools dont realize how much money they're wasting :/
Sep 28, 2011
Maureen
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I enjoy reading Gary Soto books. I enjoy the Spanish phrases and trying to actually pronounce them! It was fun to say the phrases to my Hispanic students and listen to them giggle as they helped me try to say it correctly.
Sep 02, 2010
Anjreyevh
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It was actually a pretty good book considering the fact that I don't read books about sports. It has a good mesage that sort of helped me with what i was thinking about. So, I'll recommend this book to anyone. :)
Sep 25, 2009
Gerardo
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It was an intresting book.It was about internal conflict.Lincoln(the maincharacter)had to decide from his old life and his new life.He went from the bario to the suburbs.Overall great book.
May 24, 2009
Georgene
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I read this book with a group of 6th grade boys in a book group and we all really liked it. It had a realistic plot and the boys could identify with Lincoln. The basketball scenes were good too.
Nov 07, 2009
Erin
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This book was awful. There were so many irrelevent sections and it felt like the deeper meaning was to be loyal to your race no matter what. Furthermore, why do we always have to read stuff like this for school? It's always basketball and the perils of living on the streets. I can't connect with that, and don't know many who can. Even with fantasy we may not be able to connect so well but atleast it will be an enjoyable read. Gary Soto and Walter Dean Myers, in my opinion, are not enjoyable re
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Aug 30, 2008
Anna
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Okay, so I totally could not garner up enough energy to finish this totally disappointing book. The story is dull and unengaging. The characters are flat. It was really hard to get into. Hard to keep going. So around page 50 (it's only 100 pages) I stopped.
This was especially disappointing compared to some of his other really engaging and relevant stories/novels. I loved reading "Seventh Grade" with my students last year because the story is interesting and easy to relate More...
This was especially disappointing compared to some of his other really engaging and relevant stories/novels. I loved reading "Seventh Grade" with my students last year because the story is interesting and easy to relate More...
Nov 01, 2011
Christi
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Not my favorite but does a good job with the setting. Lincoln isn't terribly likable but the things he goes through seem realistic and I can definitely see a market for this book.
Aug 07, 2010
Ariel
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To me this didn't compare with the haunting lyricism of Buried Onions by the same author. I see why it's popular. But I didn't find it very deep.
Oct 01, 2010
Chineme
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The book that I am going to comment on is "Taking Sides" by Gary Soto.
The book was very interesting for many reasons. One reason was he liked basketball and I like basketball. Also, he doesn't care if he loses or wins the game. He just plays the game for fun. Lastly, he also doesn't care which team he's on. Those are the reasons why I said it was an interesting book.
The book was very interesting for many reasons. One reason was he liked basketball and I like basketball. Also, he doesn't care if he loses or wins the game. He just plays the game for fun. Lastly, he also doesn't care which team he's on. Those are the reasons why I said it was an interesting book.
