Slot Machine
Overweight and unathletic, 13-year-old Elvin Bishop dreads his three weeks at a summer camp designed to initiate incoming freshmen into the Christian Brothers Academy. The experience turns out to be even worse than Elvin imagined when he realizes the camp's supreme purpose is to channel each of the boys into an athletics slot and Elvin fails miserably at one sport after another. Much of Elvin's problem is attitude: he is not a team player nor does he have any intention of ever becoming one. But he manages (just barely) to endure his ordeal, describing every trial in great detail from his cynical, sarcastic, and ultimately entirely sane, point of view. Hilarious from start to finish, this brilliant social satire completely exposes the myth of modern masculinity. ©1995 Cooperative Children's Book Center
CCBC Age Recommendation: Age 12 and older
Age Range:
Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Grades 9-12 (Age 14 and older)
Format:
Novel
Subjects:
Difference/Individuality
Humor
Satire
School
Sports
Publisher:
HarperCollins
Publish Year: 1995
Pages: 240
ISBN: 0060235845
CCBC Location: Fiction, Lynch