Monday, February 23, 2009

Playing with Matches by Brian Katcher



Leon has faced his share of bullying in his 17 years but he still manages to keep his odd sense of humor though he never seems to get the girl. His new locker neighbor has seen even more bullying. When Melody was a child she was severely scared when a kerosene lamp exploded in her face. They soon become fast friends and then a little more though he does deny it for awhile. But he still holds a flame for the class beauty Amy and it soon lands him in the fire.

6 comments:

Patty said...

Definitely in my top 5. I thought it was very insightful, yet funny. I enjoyed that it was told from a boy's perspective. Makes you think about the concept of beauty. A lot of teens have their first romantic experience with someone that's not their first choice, so I think it's realistic in that sense.

Librarykat said...

I liked that this book dealt with some serious issues without being overly serious itself.

pandamans said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
pandamans said...

It was good but I don't think it was very memorable. Not one of my top choices. It seems like a modern telling of Beauty and the Beast -- except that Beauty is a real douche and the Beast is the Beauty.


Does that make any sense?

Allison said...

I loved it. It is in my top 5. (though I might have more than 5 top 5s.) I loved how it was still light hearted.

Josh B. said...

I would tend to agree with Kevin on this one. I enjoyed the book, and would recommend it, but it did not seem that memorable to me. I don’t think it quite makes my top 5. I can’t quite put my finger on why, other than the fact that Leon was just so whiny and took so long to realize what he wants. I know that theoretically that is the way teen guys are, but I don’t remember being that stupid and annoying as a teen. Anyway, it was a quite good book, but not quite there for me.