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The End of the Line
by
Angela Cerrito (Goodreads Author)
In the prison-like school that is his last chance, thirteen-year-old Robbie tries to recover from events that brought him there, including his uncle's war injuries and the death of a classmate who may have been his friend.
Hardcover, 213 pages
Published
March 11th 2011
by Holiday House
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Robbie is in a very strict juvenile detention facility. They remove his bed every day, and he has to earn his food by doing what the guards tell him; make lists, attend group sessions, etc. Robbie has ended up at this facility after being thrown out of a string of others for violent behavior... and for killing a classmate. Going between his current situation and his introduction to Ryan, a troubled boy from a dysfunctional home whom he befriends even though he dislikes him. (The narratives are i...more
This story about redemption and the power of love, hate, and forgiveness begins powerfully with Robbie having been stripped of his belongings and left alone in a room. It seems he's come to the end of the line, and now he must earn his way back home after having been kicked out of several other schools. The narrative shifts from his time in Great Oaks School--he regards it as a prison--and the events in Great Falls that led to his incarceration. It's been a rough couple of years for Robbie. His...more
I wonder if such a place as this actually exists?
The story alternates between the past and the present. The main character, Robbie, is a pretty sheltered kid. Various events take place - his uncle going off to war, a new teacher who seems to hate him, and this new kid who is a friend yet not a friend.
Ryan's character was very interesting and I would have liked to know more about him. What was the obsession with construction sites? What happened to his sister? Would Ryan still have latched on to...more
The story alternates between the past and the present. The main character, Robbie, is a pretty sheltered kid. Various events take place - his uncle going off to war, a new teacher who seems to hate him, and this new kid who is a friend yet not a friend.
Ryan's character was very interesting and I would have liked to know more about him. What was the obsession with construction sites? What happened to his sister? Would Ryan still have latched on to...more
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This story opens with us knowing two things: Ryan is dead. Robbie murdered him. Robbie is a 13-year-old locked in a room with only a desk, a chair, some paper and a pencil at Great Oaks School. Robbie calls it a prison. As Robbie tells his story, every other chapter is a flashback that fills in the missing pieces about who Ryan was. In sixth grade, Ryan was the strange new kid who followed Robbie home on the first day of school and invited himself to family dinner. That night he ate three plates...more
This is an intriguing, intense, and at times unsettling story of a boy’s struggle to come to terms with the role he played in another boy’s death. At the start of the novel Robbie is in an institution for troubled youths where he is helped to confront the truth about the extent of his responsibility for the tragedy which we learn about gradually in flashback. The regime seems harsh, claustrophobic, and almost pitiless at times which I found disturbing – for example keeping children in solitary c...more
The subject matter of this book reminded me of Robert Cormier's novels - very unsettling. Robbie is in a school/prison/asylum (aka "The End of the Line") for troubled youth; by trial and error he finds out what he needs to accomplish to go home. We are told the story of how he came to this place in alternating chapters - one set in the prison, one from the past, etc. I'm not going to go into the subject matter, because it's easy to give away too much, but everything fit together perfectly to sho...more
Thirteen-year-old Robbie has been sent to Great Oaks School/Prison because he has done the unthinkable -- killed a boy -- and this is the last stop after a string of failed attempts at different schools. Told in alternating chapters of the hard-line reform he endures in real time and flashbacks that unravel the story, "End of the Line" will appeal to middle school boys and reluctant high school boys who like dark stories of bad boys going through the cathartic process of admitting guilt and taki...more
Read blurb before page 1. Robbie has reached the end of the line--which is Great Oaks School (or rather prison). He's there because he keeps getting thrown out of other juvenile detention centers for bad behavior. And he's in juvenile detention centers because he killed a boy named Ryan. Now at Great Oaks, he's in a cell with nothing else. They don't allow him shoes or food unless he's good. No one visits, no one talks to him, except for Mr. Lester--who won't give him food unless he does exactly...more
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The story of a young boy who killed his friend is told in real life and flashbacks through alternating chapters. Robbie is incarcerated in a school which has its nickname as "The end of the line;" a school where kids are placed when no other school will take them. As Robbie recounts how he wound up there, we see a young 7th grader who loves to run and has a gentle heart take in a stray boy named Ryan. Ryan comes from a dysfunctional home and, despite their differences, the boys become friends. U...more
“Ryan was dead. And I was a murderer.”
- We meet Robbie, once your average middle-school student, sitting alone at Great Oaks School, or what Robbie refers to as a prison. Right from the start of the book we know Robbie murdered Ryan, but we don’t know anything about how or why it happened.
- The story is told from Robbie’s point of view and it flip-flops from present time, Robbie at Great Oaks School, to his past, referred to as River Falls, where he lived.
- The chapters for Great Oaks School fo...more
- We meet Robbie, once your average middle-school student, sitting alone at Great Oaks School, or what Robbie refers to as a prison. Right from the start of the book we know Robbie murdered Ryan, but we don’t know anything about how or why it happened.
- The story is told from Robbie’s point of view and it flip-flops from present time, Robbie at Great Oaks School, to his past, referred to as River Falls, where he lived.
- The chapters for Great Oaks School fo...more
I really enjoyed the book, but I think I came away from it with a different view of the "school" than the author may have intended. It seems to me that for every success story who is returned to the real world successfully, that "school" will also turn out a potential ax murderer, due to its methods.
Mr. Lester is "doing his job" in the same way that waterboarding isn't torture, and is a bit too sadistic and scary to be believable as the supposedly benevolent figure he comes across by the end. Ot...more
Mr. Lester is "doing his job" in the same way that waterboarding isn't torture, and is a bit too sadistic and scary to be believable as the supposedly benevolent figure he comes across by the end. Ot...more
I like this different style of book. Only near the last pages do you get the full "story," sort of like a suspence novel. The way this novel is written, I think it is made for a slightly juvinile audience, perhaps twelve, thirteen. There is no deep "why" no obvious moral to the story- although in most complicated novels there is no real right or wrong answer..
It does explore classic ideas, like "It was an accident" and how the character just lives with his guilt. I do like how the author Cerri...more
It does explore classic ideas, like "It was an accident" and how the character just lives with his guilt. I do like how the author Cerri...more
The book really starts off when Robbie’s Uncle leaves for the war, since Robbie was really close to each other. They ran together, built things together, they did almost everything together. But it doesn’t end there, because when Grant left for war Robbie needed someone else to keep him that much company. That’s when Robbie met Ryan. Ryan was a boy who had a life of his own. He grew up basically raising himself since his mom was sick in the hospital and his dad and little sister named star died,...more
3.5 Stars
The book opens with Robbie sitting in a detention center/school for bad kids holding cell trying to compose a list of of who he is. Although the list, comprised of variations of his name, didn't go over well with Mr. Lester the "teacher", Robbie got it right the second time when he included, "I am a killer murderer." We are then taken back to the previous year when Robbie was starting the first day of sixth grade. This is the day he meets Ryan, a boy with more issues than a kid can hand...more
The book opens with Robbie sitting in a detention center/school for bad kids holding cell trying to compose a list of of who he is. Although the list, comprised of variations of his name, didn't go over well with Mr. Lester the "teacher", Robbie got it right the second time when he included, "I am a killer murderer." We are then taken back to the previous year when Robbie was starting the first day of sixth grade. This is the day he meets Ryan, a boy with more issues than a kid can hand...more
13 year old Ryan is dead. 13 year old Robbie has killed him. What moves a basically good kid from a good, loving family to do the unthinkable? How has it changed him? Will he recover? Robbie is at the "End of the Line". His family, the school, YDC has tried everything else. Now he starts in an empty room and has to earn his way back: to food, to shoes, to reality, to home.
The concept is fascinating, but the story drags. The book is written in an alternating series of "now" and flashbacks. At fir...more
The concept is fascinating, but the story drags. The book is written in an alternating series of "now" and flashbacks. At fir...more
Robbie finds himself in a windowless room with just a desk and a chair. A man asks him to make a list - a list of who he is. Robbie puts down his name and the fact that he is a murderer. We learn Robbie's story by switching between Robbie's current life in the institution and flashbacks to his life at home.
Readers will be engrossed in the tale of Robbie and his struggle to come to terms with the tragic events that lead to his stay at the "end of the line".
Readers will be engrossed in the tale of Robbie and his struggle to come to terms with the tragic events that lead to his stay at the "end of the line".
Robbie is alone, starving, and in need of shoes. He’s in a cell and Mr. Lester, the person who oversees him, asks him to write honest, thoughtful lists about who he is, what he wants, and what he’s done. The amount of food and level of comfort Robbie receives is dependent on the quality of these lists.
All this is happening because Robbie killed his friend, Ryan, and needs to be rehabilitated. Mr. Lester is far from the bad guy, because he wants to get to the bottom of Robbie’s murderous deed an...more
All this is happening because Robbie killed his friend, Ryan, and needs to be rehabilitated. Mr. Lester is far from the bad guy, because he wants to get to the bottom of Robbie’s murderous deed an...more
This is a 2012 IRA Award nominee finalist for YA fiction. I think our winner from 2009 Freeze Frame told a similar story much better. I like dual track stories that lead to one important moment in time to explain all events, but this book just didn't execute it well. Perhaps the protagonist was too young (13), the circumstances too explainable and the behavioral motivations less than believable.
Robbie is in a school/prison (he's not sure which it is) for murder. Well written in alternating chapters between the past and the present, filling in the events that led to Robbie being locked up and also force him to confront the truth and deal with it so that he can be released. Storyline also includes an uncle who is an important role model who is injured while fighting in the Iraq war.
I love how this books goes from present to past as Robbie deals with killing his best friend during his fight. Robbie's journey to come to grips with his actions and to understand his relationships with his friend and his family is filled with emotions. Robbie could have been better developed as a character.
Totally loved this book had me reading within a day I got done reading it lmao. It was really good I praise you Angela it was very good and I loved it on one of my wishlists simply because it also made me tear up on few parts poor thing but I loved it none the less.
There are not enough stars for how I feel about this book and the brilliant writing. Loved, loved, loved this story!
example of said brilliance: "The silence was like a giant hand pulling me and Mom out of the kitchen."
awesome!
example of said brilliance: "The silence was like a giant hand pulling me and Mom out of the kitchen."
awesome!
an intense story. i wasn't expecting it to be so criminal minds since it was for younger readers but it was very good. i recommend it to a more mature audience however.
A well written and engaging book that reflects on events and how perceptions of those events can effect the future.
What goes on in the head of one who cannot forgive himself? What does "tough love" actually look like?
Kind of the definition of meh, a good premise with poor execution and not a lot of action.
Better than I thought it would be. Robbie, who says he has murdered his friend, is at a last-chance institution. During the story we find out the whys and wherefores of his being there and whether he can make it out or not.
Great book
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I was born in Dearborn Michigan and earned two degrees at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. I love being part of the kidlit community, especially SCBWI (where I volunteer as the Assistant International Advisor) and Verla Kay's blue board.
The best thing about writing has been meeting my readers. If you’ve read THE END OF THE LINE (or even if you haven’t) you are welcome to stop by my webs...more
More about Angela Cerrito...
The best thing about writing has been meeting my readers. If you’ve read THE END OF THE LINE (or even if you haven’t) you are welcome to stop by my webs...more
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