Slot Machine

ISBN 0064471403 - Books that have gotten multiple awards are usually surrounded by such an aura of "You HAVE to like this book!" that I find my expectations too high. Slot Machine seemed to be one of those - A Best Book for Young Adults, Young Adult Choices for 1997, Winner of a 1995 Bulletin Blue Ribbon, and A Recommended Book for Reluctant Young Adult Readers... that's a lot to live up to! To my surprise, it does! Elvin and his friends go to a summer retreat known as Twenty-One Nights with the Knights. Elvin's got a negative outlook from the start and things immediately live down to that perspective. Not, in any way, athletic, Elvin struggles as he is pushed to fit into a "slot". Everyone, they tell him, has a slot - and all of those slots are athletic. After proving that he's definitely not an athlete, and making an unpleasant discovery about the "in" crowd guys, he reaches bottom. And he finds that he likes it there! He's not alone, and it's clearly his "slot". I can see why Slot Machine would get a Reluctant Reader award - Elvin might be more of a misfit than the reader, but almost every young adult FEELS like a misfit at some time! He's a funny character, with a bit of the smart-aleck. Lynch does a really nice job with all his characters, leaving me wishing for a peek at next year's Twenty-One Nights with the Knights.

This is a truly astonishing book. It is a story about a catholic teenage boy named Elvin. Who has just got out of grade school and now over the summer is going to a sleepway called 21 knights for 21 nights. During this all boy camp Elvin an obese kid keeps getting moved into different sport activity areas called slots. Throughtout the book he his placed into various amounts of these slots. During this time his good friend Mikie wants to try and get Elvin in shape. Also, his other friend Frankie is trying to get into the cool crowd and doing this wasn't one of the more joyful times of his life. Any way this is all I'm going to tell you because I don't want to ruin the book for you.

This is a great book for all readers. Whether you're 13 or 19 you will love this book. Its even suitable for all sport lovers! No matter what sport you play or watch, this book is for you. And if sport books aren't for you, then this book is still a real keeper. Read as an out-of-shape 14 year-old gets beat up in all the sports. Also, read as he faces peer pressure and some severe decisions, but mixed in with all of this is some real humor. I recommend this book to all teenagers and sport lovers. Be sure to read the sequel "Extreme Elvin". Enjoy!

I thought it was a good book because there was a lot of swearing , and because it was a good book. The reading level is about 8th grade level. The book is fiction. The main charecters are Eugene, Elvin, Mike, and Frank. Elvin goes to camp and spends 3 weeks there. in camp Elvin has to try all these diffrent sectore. He starts off at football, then baseball, then basketball then at the end he goes to art sector because he didnt find any other sector he liked. The book takes place in New York. The book is educational because if you are going to do sports when you grow up you can see the pain of them.