Face

"At this point Martin knew something terrible had happened to his face. His heart pounded in his chest. He shifted his eyes to the left and saw his father standing over him. `Are you OK, son?" The British author, Benjamin Zephaniah, who also wrote "Gangster Rap", writes a book about a 16 year old boy named Martin, and his three friends, Matt, Mark, and Natalie. The book takes place in London, England, and the time is present. This raging page-turner is about Martin, the main character, getting into a high-speed pursuit, and crashing into someone, which ignites his car on fire, burning his entire face. This ground breaking novel about prejudice and what happened to Martin will change his life forever. After several operations, and weeks in the ICU, Martin is back at school, and home, and faces the world through the eyes of the unexpected. Many challenges await him as he tries to cope with his injuries, and his loss of friends. The only way Martin can escape from painful misery, is gymnastics, and when he joins the gymnastic team, only one thing can keep him going and focused, and that's perseverance, and determination. When the big gymnastics tournament comes up Martin is really self-conscious about his face, and his struggle to win is affected by how others view and comment on Martin's face. My favorite part of the book was when Martin's team got third place in the school gymnastics competition. They did the routine, and executed it to perfection. I think that they should of got 2nd or 1st, because it sounded like they were the better team, but 3rd is very good also. This makes it special because Martin has worked his whole life for it, and it finally paid off. The main idea that the author is trying to get to the reader, is to be thankful for what you've got, because before you know it, it could be gone in a flash. Your life can change suddenly, and forever. The author wants you to realize how things can happen. I can make a personal connection to this, because when I got in my crash and almost died, I wasn't as thankful and grateful as I am now. I feel very lucky to be here, alive and healthy. Overall I loved this book! It was a great page-turner, and I liked how the author kept throwing the unexpected at Martin, and how Martin delt with it, with a positive attitude. I wouldn't change anything at all about this book. I strongly recommend this to people who hate life, or think that they have it bad; because it will make them think about how worse life can get in a blink of an eye. This book almost forced me to appreciate life better. It was an exciting book, and I really like the writing style of the author. I wish that this ok could have gone on forever!

This book happens to be written/published in Great Britain, and I think that is one of the many reasons I liked this book. I don't live in Great Britain, but in the states, so reading something from another country is always interesting for me. This book it about a 15-year-old boy named Martin. He has what an average teenager has: a girlfriend, a gang, family, and good looks. Things change when he goes to DANCEMANIA and shows of his good dance moves in the club. Walking home he meets up with a boy named Peter. Peter asks him and his friends if they wanna go for a ride. Martin excepts because Peter use to go to his school so he sort of trusts him. He also gets his friend, Mark, to come along for the ride, but Matthew stays behind, knowing that nothing good will come out if the joy ride. Martin soon finds himself in a hospital with sever burns to his hands and face because the driver of the car ran a red light, running away from the cops. Martin then finds that his face is messed up bad. He then stays in the hospital for almost a month because of his badly burned face. This book is really about the changes of life. In this case, Martin must deal with his disfigured face and the way the public, his friends, and even his girlfriend treat him. Martin faces ups and downs, but realizes that being here, with his family and his REAL friends, is better then looks and winning. I loved this book; so 2 thumps up to Benjamin Zephaniah for this amazing story about teen triumph and lose. This was an amazing book that was written in the way that you could just relate.

FACE was just that, the face of reality! Being a teen is hard enough without something turning your entire world upside down! The questions we ask and then find the answers makes us wonder why we ever asked them at all. Benjamin Zenphaniah has amazing insight into the mind of a teen while all the while making you realize that whether you survive or not is all up to you.I recommend FACE to anyone who enjoys a challenge!