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Summary: BASEBALL THE LAST CENTURY
Review: If you are a fan of America's favorite century than the book 20th Century Baseball Chronicle is the book for you. This book is a rather large in size but don't let that fool you. The book begins with a tribute (if you will) to the year 1900. The book ends with the year 1998. Each section of the book is dedicated to what spectactular happened in that particular year. The year 1998, for example, the Flordia Marlins won te World Series, and Mark McGuire hit 58 homeruns.I personally really enjoyed this book. I may be only 15, but that really doesn't matter. When it comes to baseball I will read a book up to 900 plus pages. You see baseball is my passion and I love anything to do with basball. The book has so many features, it has pictures on all the pages. The bottom of the pages have little highlights over the year. For example, the year 1995 one of the highlights was "Mickey Mantle Dies at age of 64." Some of the articles are rather sad but they do prove one point, don't take advantage of your life, it is way too short.
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Summary: Staying Corpulent
Review: Friends due to their social outcast status in Jr. High, Eric Calhoune and Sarah Byrnes's six year friendship now reflects their loyalty and love for each other. Sarah seeks the asylum of the psychiatric ward in the city hospital because her father severely burned her face and hands fifteen years earlier, and she fears his wrath again. From Eric's daily visits to the hospital, he learns the real cause of her burns; consequently, he seeks Ms. Lemry's assistance. Ms Lemry is his teacher, swim coach, and friend. Sarah's immediate indignation at Eric for this breach in confidence is soon pacified when Sarah discovers Ms. Lemry's kindness. With the help of unlikely heroes Ms Lemry, Eric, and Carver, Eric's mom's boyfriend, Sarah's father is jailed for lethal actions against Sarah and Eric. Then, Cindy and Tom Lemry adopt Sarah, and for the first time her future is optimistic.
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Summary: A burning agenda hinders storytelling
Review: Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. I attended a book talk that Mr. Crutcher gave and was extremely interested in reading Sarah Byrnes after he described the plot. However, after reading it, I was left with not much more than disappointment. I found the premise extremely relevant -- two kids, friends from childhood, their characteristics which made them social rejects (obesity and deformity)is the glue that bonds them together. Eric starts to shed his reject status once he becomes a star swimmer in high school; Sarah Byrnes can never shed her face. Even so, Eric sticks by his friend. This could have been a great book. Instead, the author put his personal agenda in the way and tripped over it. This book, to serious people of faith, particularly those who adhere to the Christian faith, will not be able to "turn their other cheeks" to the blatant anti-Christian bashing that permeates the book. Subtle Mr. Crutcher is not. Instead, Mr. Crutcher leaves the reader with no other perception but to think that conservative Christians who take their faith seriously are nothing but hypocrites that, if they would just examine their beliefs, do a little soul searching for lack of a better way to say it, will eventually "see the light" and mend their "radical" ways. I have to wonder if Mr. Crutcher truly knows a Christian such as he has portrayed in this book (I'm referring to Mark Brittain) --one who knows what he/she believes and isn't afraid to stand up for those beliefs (thankfully not to be confused with the depicted Christian here who is boarish, obnoxious, and who lives to wear his faith on his sleeve, and is insecure in the final analysis), or if he's merely relying on poorly drawn sterotypes. You know, the stuff movies are full of. I'd say that Mr. Crutcher needs to research that population better if he wants to use one person to signify the whole. In addition, my respect for the author took a sharp descent as he set up straw man after straw man to tear down arguments against abortion, the separation of church and state, etc., etc. (He threw in just about every hot button issue!) He used the age old arguments against, but never put in a good argument for the conservative stand. He had plenty of opportunity to do so as he was using a classroom environment as his bully pulpit to get these views on the table. I felt that if he was going to discuss these issues in his book, he could've been more even-handed. I agree with many of the other reviewers who wrote that the language was obscene. It's true that teens use pretty profanity-laden language, but even so, here it was gratuitous. So, all in all, a good idea, but sadly, agenda got in the way of the story telling.
Rating: 
Summary: A Thin Line Between Love and Hate
Review: I think Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes was an okay book. I only give it three stars. The beginning is rather boring and dull. Towards the middle it becomes a bit more interesting, but at the end it was boring and unexpected. I liked it, but not enough, so there is a thin line between my thoughts. I recommend this book to young adults and teens due to the obscene language and violence. I would not allow younger children to read this book with out adult supervision.
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Summary: Uncovered Vengeance
Review: This is an excellent book. It is a true-life story and has real-life situations. Usually people judge on appearances, like they do to Sarah. "Moby" (Eric) was a wonderful character, as Sarah's best friend. He showed a feeling towards Sarah as a true best friend. The part when Mr. Byrnes, Sara's dad, was in Moby's car gave it quite of a suspence. Was he going to die or not? The authors writing was alive. The words he used made the reader come back for more. This book is all about drama and action. This book is recommended to teens because it will opens their eyes to reality. We gave it five stars because it shows drama and action in real-life situations.
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Summary: Scarred To Silence
Review: (suspense/drama/comedy novel) Sarah Brynes was literally scarred to silence. When Sarah Brynes was three, she was "mysteriously" burned. There was a possibility she could have had reconstructive surgery, but her father refused it. During her whole life(until the age of seventeen), Sarah was a very cold hearted person to everyone EXCEPT Eric Calhoune a.k.a Moby. They were both looked down upon in society. Eric was overweight, and Sarah had a disfigured face. Together, they wrote a secret newspaper in Junior High School called Crispy Pork Rinds. When Sarah was a senior in High School, she went into a state of mind where she did not talk. Her friend Eric stayed with her throughout the whole ordeal even though he started to become popular due to weight loss. Eric did not want to lose her friendship, so he ate like a pig to stay fat. This book is appeals to a mature teen audience due to graphic language. The ending is rather surprising and we promise you will be at your nerves ends during the whole book!
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Summary: Crispy Pork Rinds
Review: Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes is a great book. It's interesting, funny, emotional and even suspenseful. The characters are life-like, the problems seem real, and almost anyone could relate to at least one of the characters in the book. Chris Crutcher, the author of Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes, wrote in great detail, and kept the plot going, instead of going on and on about how glorious the marble table looked (just an example), for page and pages at a time. Eric "Moby" Calhoune, Sarah Byrnes (who prefers to be called by her full name), and Dale Thornton are my favorite characters in the book. Eric was fat in middle school, he befriended Sarah Byrnes, who was burnt badly as a child and wasn't allowed to have reconstructive surgery, and she helped him stick up for himself when someone like Dale Thornton, the school bully, tried to beat up on him. They stayed friends because both of them were unaccepted, and eventually Dale became friends with them. These characters, among others, helped make this book better with their strong characteristics and the way they seemed like real people. I thought I would not like this book, I usually read horror novels, but I loved this book and couldn't put it down. I would recommend this book to all teenagers, and even adults, because it's a wonderful book.
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Summary: Staying Fat Can Be Dangerous....
Review: Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, is a book about true friendship and caring for one another. Caring enough so that one boy by the name of Eric Calhoune (who was on the swim team) would not lose weight for his best friend Sarah Byrnes, even though he always got teased for being overweight. She was also made fun of for her looks and she didn't want to be the only one. But then again, the book also talks a lot about abortion and abuse. Overall, our group thought that is was good book. At first you might think that the first few chapters are boring because some kid is talking about how depressed he is about being fat, but later in the book it becomes very interesting. It tells how Sarah Byrnes childhood was abusive to her, and it tells how Eric helped her out through thick and thin. The ending might even catch you by surprise! One reason though, why we wouldn't recommend this book is because of the use of profanity. There is at least a few bad words in every chapter, so if you get offended by use of profanity we wouldn't recommend this book to you. But don't get me wrong, the book isn't all about the negative things in life. It shows what some people would go through just for friendship even if it is going through life the hard way. It is a really good book for teenagers to relate to. That is why we would recommend this book for teenagers between the ages of 13-18 and for both boys and girls. So go out and get a copy of "Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes" by Chris Crutcher, and tell us if you liked the book as much as we did!
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Summary: A 6 star book!
Review: This book by Chris Crutcher is one of many that he has written. In case this is the first book of his you've read, all his books involve some kind of sport, but not too much that it becomes excessivly confusing or overshadows the whole plot. This is a good book for you whether or not you like sports. Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes is about a girl with family troubles and a harsh physical "disablility", if you will. Sarah insists that when se was only three years old, she spilled a pot of hot water onto herself, and her father would not let her do reconstructive surgery. Sarah stops talking and is taken to a hospital, where her best friend and narrator of the story, Eric "Moby" Calhoune visits her frequently. But after a while, disbelief in her story arises, and it is up to Moby to uncover her gloomy past.
Rating:
Summary: A Four Star Friendship
Review: I think Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes is a good book. Although it is filled with obscene language, I think the story line was well thought out. I give it four stars, and I related to the story because I, like many others, was made fun of. The books main impact on me is how the two main characters become friends to overcome their abnormal appearance. The book was a bit depressing, but it had some suspense and comedy. I recommend this book to teens and young adults.
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