Out of Order

Rating:
Summary: Richie's Picks: OUT OF ORDER
Review: "I hate this class. English has always been a nightmare to me. It's a battle for me to stay in regular and not get stuck in remedial. I've always kept ahead of the game, but I still hate English. I hate books, I hate school in general. Always have. Any minute somebody could be expecting you to read out loud, or to explain something."

Boy, do I feel stupid.

Don't tell anybody, but Richie--who has a reputation to maintain for having read nearly EVERYTHING when it comes to recently published YA literature--has never before read a book by A.M. Jenkins. Not even the previous one, which was designated a BBYA Top Ten. I couldn't even tell Shari if A.M. Jenkins was a man or a woman. (Shari was the one who looked on the copyright page and discovered that A.M. stands for Amanda McRaney.)

I can joke about it (even if I am truly embarrassed to admit this particular gap in my knowledge) because having grown up as an excellent reader and student I've always understood that knowledge gaps of all sorts are easily bridged by finding the right book--or sometimes, these days, the right website--and reading the necessary information.

That is, you can easily bridge knowledge gaps IF you have the skills to read and comprehend the language--if, like me, you learned to read well as a young child and then steadily improved your abilities through coaching and practice.

We never learn specifically why sixteen-year old, star baseball player Colt Trammel had such a hard time learning to read, but he did, and it is obvious that the school system has failed him by never providing the help he has desperately needed:

"I can't remember the first time I knew I was stupid. It must have been in kindergarten or first grade, when everybody else could already tell the letters apart and I couldn't, even though I started school a year late on account of my birthday's in June and my dad didn't want me to be the smallest boy in my class for the rest of my life. But even with a year's head start, I kept getting the letters mixed up. I still don't read so good.
"But I am good at copying, lying, cheating. I get notes like 'doesn't work up to potential,' and 'would rather entertain his classmates than work.'
"And that's why I could always sit through a whole class period, doing nothing but watching Grace. I'd give anything to be smart like that. The only smart I am is smart-mouthed. And if somebody like Grace--intellectual, pure, refined--could fall for me, then nobody will ever guess that I'm just plain f---g stupid, after all."

This feeling of stupidity colors Colt's entire world and his interactions with everyone in it, be it a girl, a teacher, the coach, or his fellow ballplayers. It results in his intolerance of people who are different so that he can feel better about himself.

In one of the year's great coming-of-age stories, Colt Trammel teeters on the edge of complete disaster: Grace is ambivalent about their relationship. Colt is reaching the critical point at which accumulated years of not understanding the subject matter in his classes is steadily sinking his chances of even cheating his way to the passing grades necessary to remain on the baseball team when spring arrives. Even his mother is tightening the screws. Through a complicated system of coping mechanisms, Colt has learned to deal with the system that has failed him, but his whole carefully constructed facade is on the verge of crumbling.

" ' "He was a man," ' Mr. Hammond reads off the printout, ' "without a mask." '
"I do what I always do--I stare right at him, so nobody knows I have no clue what he's talking about, and nobody can complain how I'm not paying attention. It's an old trick--just look the teacher right between the eyes, just keep your own eyes glued to that one spot on the bridge of their nose, and then your mind can wander wherever it wants."

A catalyst for Colt's transformation arrives in the form of Corinne, a green-haired girl with attitude who transfers to his school and ends up trying to help him:

" 'I'll skip this next part,' she tells me. 'It's basically comparing poetry to beer.' Which perks my ears up--but she's already going on:

" 'But take it: if the smack is sour,
The better for the embittered hour....'

"She stops suddenly and looks me dead in the eye.
" 'What do you think that means?'
"This whole situation's so weird that just for a second I hesitate.

"But just for a second.
" 'It means you're a f---g psycho,' I tell her.
" 'Wrong!' She thumps the open book with her hand. 'It means that you're my vaccination.'
" 'Your vacc--'
" 'See, Golden Boy, you're a pain in the ass right now, but gradually you'll make me immune to all the other morons in this oppressive caste system you call a school. You're my cowpox, my measles shot, my DPT booster.'
"I start to say something about at least my hair's not the color of snot, but I'm not really sure what all she just said, and besides, snot comments are too fourth grade."

Colt refers to her as Chlo (short for chlorophyll) and she refers to him as Terrell (just to mess with his mind). That he and Corinne have sufficient contempt for each other is paradoxically what allows them to drop their facades and be real with each other.

And while that dropping of their guards may be a more pivotal component to the story, I was fascinated and enlightened by the author's ability (through Chlo) to bring Colt to see how some works of the Romantic poets (as well as A.E. Housman) can actually relate to his life. Chlo is a person who has learned how to use her intellect not merely to get good grades, but to find truth and compassion in her world.

OUT OF ORDER will cause readers to empathize with the kids in their own lives who hide themselves behind facades, and could cause some of those masqueraders to seek help.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully crafted portrait of a boy in trouble
Review: A. M. Jenkins, author of the highly regarded DAMAGE, is known for depicting the world of today's young adults with unflinching honesty. But more than that, her writing conveys her genuine affection and caring for her subject. In Colt Trammel, Jenkins has created her most memorable character yet.

On the outside, Colt is popular, athletic, smart-mouthed, always on top. On the inside, he is desperately in love with Grace and struggles to cover up a learning disability. But he's beginning to lose both Grace and his battle to hide his disability when "Chlo," a green-haired girl who can see right through him enters his life.

Jenkins never descends into sentimentality in her portrait of Colt. Similarly, his faults and his failings are drawn without judgment. Colt's voice is clear and compelling without being too self-aware. A worthy successor to the author's previous works.

Rating:
Summary: OUT OF ORDER is a realistic book.
Review: Colt Trammel is trying to make sense of his high school world. His classes are like gibberish, his girlfriend Grace freaks after he tells her he loves her, and his lab partner is a new girl with green hair, for Pete's sake. The only time Colt knows what's going on is when he's playing baseball.

A.M. Jenkins is a master at drawing readers right into the characters. Colt is not a simple jock stereotype. His love for Grace makes him vulnerable, and the failures he experiences in his classes make him feel perpetually stupid.

Colt's struggle with the romantic poets from his English class becomes crucial when his grades drop below what is acceptable for playing athletes. He finds a tutor in Chloe, formerly of the green hair. Jenkins writes their tutoring sessions with humor. Anyone who has struggled to understand classic poems will especially enjoy these parts of the books.

It is also nice to see in a book the boy's side of a painful dating relationship. Readers will sympathize with this supposed tough guy as he pines for Grace, who doesn't treat him well.

Jenkins gives us a three-dimensional character in Colt, who is likable despite some bad choices that will have the reader cringing. OUT OF ORDER is a realistic book, and readers will want to see more of what happens to Colt.

--- Reviewed by Amy Alessio


Rating:
Summary: Out of Order
Review: I absolutely loved this book. It was your everyday life as a teenager in your typical high school. It includes all of the negative things that go on in high school too, so that makes the book a little restrictive for kids younger than 8th grade. But I still liked it. It covered everything from relationships to falling into peer pressure to constantly harassing people. Colt, the main character, is very rude, and really sucks at school work. He is really only good at baseball. But that makes him a bully to everyone around him that he considers, "lower than him". But as he starts to get a taste of what he's been dealing out to everyone when a new girl moves to their school and doesn't take any crap from him. She just sends it right back his way. What made the book so good was when he finally realized how mean he really was to everyone, and he matures. It is kind of eye opening though, because I know there are probably people like that in my school, and I realized that the situations in this book really do happen. But I give you this warning... there are many cuss words, and bad conversations. But it makes up for all of that in the end, I think.

Rating:
Summary: A character driven teen book that works very well.
Review: I didn't know that this book was a "Teen" book until I was half way done and read the cover blurbs. I was rather surprised. While it is an easy read it is deeper than it seems to be. This is a truely character driven book, so much so I could see it as a drama. The characters are rich and deep. Every scene (it really could be a drama) is set up to learn something about the "starring" character. This book is about teens growing up, experiencing their world and learning the ins and outs. The best of all we aren't left feeling sorry or happy for characters. They react to their environment and we are left with characters that have grown since our introduction to them. A. M. Jenkins does a great job of letting the characters do what they do without unnecessary actions. At the end we leave Colt's world very different from the one we came in on and allow it to follow its own unpredictable path.

Rating:
Summary: I WOULD GIVE THIS BOOK 10 STARS OUT OF 5
Review: The acclaimed author of the novel, DAMAGE, has done it again with the new novel, OUT OF ORDER. A.M.Jenkins tells the frustration of Colt Trammel's life. Colt who claims baseball and the girl he's been in love with since the seventh grade are the only reasons he's still in school. Then everything hits the fan for Colt. His girlfriend dumped him (sadly again) and his Mom won't let him play baseball if he can't raise his GPA to at least a C. Jenkins tells the next six weeks in Colt's life in an amazingly realistic way. Jenkins does it with such suspense, drama and detail that she keeps you on the edge of your seat and not wanting to put it down. The book is an easy but exciting read. The book has 247 pages and I finished it in 3 1/2 hours. The book would be rated R because it is filled with the thoughts that run through a typical horny teenage boy's mind. I would give this book 10 STARS OUT OF 5. It's a must read for anyone 12 and up. My English teacher read this book and had the same response I did, FANTASTIC. This is a great book. I could easily relate to Colt's frustrations, This is a MUST READ!!!!!!