Antony JohnMascot

My middle-grade reader and I read this book together at night. We live in St. Louis, and we love the author! The book started out a little slow for us, but Dee Dub is such a great character that he spiced it right up! And then we were very much in to Noah's problems with his mom's boyfriend and his daughter. The ending is very happy--maybe a little too much, but honestly, during this pandemic if you are looking for a VERY WELL-WRITTEN book that deals with problems middle-graders have and then ends HAPPY, pick this up. Also if you live or have lived in St. Louis, you will love all the references. My daughter was amazed when he kept mentioning The Hill which we drive through all the time to get our dog to doggy daycare.

I really liked to watch the growth of the character and how Noah found a way to accept his identity. I like the snarky comments Noah made to add humor to his situation. And finally I love a book with an underdog and a bullythat is more than the reader thinks. It reminded me of Wonder and yet the unique friendship in Freak the Mighty; plus the love of baseball and park scenes like in The Sandlot, only set in St. Louis. I think my students would really enjoy this book.

I am a 6th grader who lives in Missouri, so this book was pretty good for me. When my school librarian first recommended the book, I was a little sceptical because a) the book seemed extremely boring and b) she wasn’t very good at book recommendations. I recommend this book for any one my age.

This review is not about the content of the story itself - but about the physical book received. The book I received began on Chapter 5. All chapters are in the book, but Page 1 and Chapter 1 are located in the middle of the book. Odd printing error which caused confusion for my child as he began reading this book for school.

I was looking for a book for my great nephew. This one does not disappoint. Great characters, dealing with disabilities for the first time; depressed and yet vibrant characters and relationships. Former athlete, loses most of his friends when he is suddenly confined to a wheelchair, but learns there are other people who care about him.

Wonderful! Beautiful story about loss and the importance of love and friendship in the journey toward recovery. Told from perspective of a young man, this is a must-recommend for junior high or freshmen students.

I loved this book! There is so many reasons why I loved it and those reasons kept mounting as I read it. I’m only sorry that it took me a while to find this book and now, I’m wondering what else this author wrote that I should be reading.In the beginning pages of Mascot, you will meet Noah who is adjusting to life in a wheelchair. Noah was with his father in a car accident, were his father was pronounced dead and now, Noah is a paraplegic.From his tone, Noah isn’t happy with the way his life is headed. During his weekly physical therapy sessions, Noah’s passive/negative remarks have him moving nowhere, whereas another patient in the room, who Noah has been watching, is slowly making progress. His former teammates taunt and bully him, every chance that they get. The pitcher, once his close friend is the leader in this cruel act. Once a star catcher on the school’s baseball team, Noah can’t use his legs anymore. With his father gone, he must rely on his mother for everything and the way things are going, Noah feels this might be a long time.When Ruben enters the picture, this book just blew up. Ruben cracked me up! Ruben, a.k.a Double Wide or Dee-Dub, arrives in his true form. When he was first introduced to the class, I had many thoughts going through my head as Dee Dub basically says the honest truth without any filters. Like Noah thought, Dee-Dub was crazy or a total genius that knows that being a new kid he can get away with anything. I think he was a little bit of both.Ruben ends up sitting next to Noah and they form a friendship. Ruben is now associated with Noah which gets the attention of everyone especially the baseball team. I wondered how Ruben would handle the harassment now that he was a part of it. Noah and Ruben were now a pair but could they do anything against a team? We meet Alyssa, who is a friend of Noah’s. I thought she was one tough girl. Noah needed to start hanging around her more as she would teach him something, for she was not taking any gruff from anyone.Ruben was not afraid of speaking his mind and now, Noah finally has someone to talk to. Ruben helps us, as readers, get to know the characters as he’s not afraid of talking to them and inquiring into the lives of each of them.What a remarkable, outstanding book! I loved the characters as they felt realistic and I liked how they felt a variety of emotions. There were fears and bleak situations but they worked through them. Now to see what else I need to read by this author.

I was looking for a book about someone with a disability for a library program. All the libraries in the area were completely out of Wonder (by R.J. Palacio), so I asked the librarian if they had any others books about people with disabilities at about the same reading level. She recommended this book, and tbh it's incredible. Amazing plot and funny characters 10/10 WOULD RECOMMEND!!