Customer Reviews

Choosing up Sides

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As Language Arts Chair and Peer Coach/Staff Developer, I'm writing on behalf of 500 middle school students, their teachers, and parents. John H. Ritter's first novel, Choosing Up Sides, is an extremely powerful story which has touched all of us in one of San Diego's public schools. Although every single language arts teacher read Ritter's book to each of their students during the school year 1999-2000, kids, parents, and teachers are still commenting on the plot and engaging in meaningful dialogues regarding complex issues faced by Ritter's characters. And, I don't expect the talk to fade. Afterall, isn't that what excellent literature is designed to do?

Teachers are thrilled to put their hands on a gripping story that causes students to engage in critical thought, ask powerful questions, and express opinions on matters relevant to adolescents. Kids yearn to sink their teeth into issues that matter, issues that allow them to search for and define their own feelings. Ritter's book serves as a catalyst for such introspection and growth. And, his story is just as captivating for adults as it is for adolescents. Therefore, as teachers, we're receiving reports of kids and parents engaging in book talks over this novel. Imagine. Adolescents and their parents reading and discussing literature! Why is this happening?

It's happening because Ritter's book is one of healing and hope. A young man gets in touch with his spiritual self and finds strength to love and forgive. Readers need more authors like Ritter who have the courage to make us squirm in order to grow emotionally, socially, and spiritually. Our readers are not only continuing to share Ritter's first novel with others, they are also reading and discussing Over the Wall, his second book for young adults.

In conclusion, I take issue with a reviewer's suggestion that Choosing Up Sides may not be appropriate for its targeted audience. I suspect that this reviewer lacks insight into the developmental needs and strengths of adolescents. Adolescents, as proven by our students, are highly perceptive and discerning. They weren't left feeling that Ritter had coupled religion with superstition, as suggested by this one reviewer. In fact, this novel helped to clarify and solidify many a young person's spiritual beliefs.

We anxiously await the release of many more novels by John H. Ritter. Our students and their families deserve the best. Until then, as a staff we intend to use both of Ritter's first two novels in all of our language arts classes.

Thank you, John H. Ritter.

I did not give "Choosing Up Sides" a 5-star rating for two (I believe reasonable) reasons. First, like our modern educational system, the 5-star system is a victim of "inflation." (Too many GOOD books are deemed GREAT, and 5 stars SHOULD be reserved for that VERY RARE GREAT BOOK. ) Secondly, I've got to give John Ritter SOME place to go! Bottom line, a good adolescent novel, and a VERY GOOD first novel--a book which both teenagers and adults can read and thoroughly enjoy. One by one, Ritter's meticulously-handled characters enter the story and engage its conflicts from the moment each enters. Religion vs. nature, familiar vs. risky, talent vs. luck, destiny vs. choice, passion vs. thought, chaos vs. order, father vs. son, and boy vs. girl. Ritter's characters move among these and other deep-rooted conflicts, embodying both their explicit and their subtle manifestations like deer in the forest. Each character is internally consistent yet engages others at various levels, and develops for better or worse within the storyline. The novel also carries within it an implicit and ever present sense of place and time. I found myself trusting where Ritter was going next within this gently crafted first novel. I very much look forward to John Ritter's next novel! And I am buying a copy of "Choosing Up Sides" for my teenage nephew

John Ritter hits a homerun with this novel. In a story for all ages Ritter brings to life young Luke Bledsoe, a 14 year old boy with his eyes on a pretty girl in his class, his right hand on a Bible held by his father, and his left hand on a baseball.
Sports can teach us many lessons in life. Through baseball, Ritter teaches his audience about the power of identity and influence.
At 14, Luke is at a stage in his life when his identity is beginning to be formed. Luke, and many others, start to discover things about himself that he didn't previously consider. The most important of these discoveries is that his dad's interpretation of the Bible didn't seem logical or consistent with Luke's interpretation. Luke struggles throughout the story with choosing sides: his father and mother or his uncle and girlfriend. Luke's final decision is not so much who he stands with as much as what he stands for. Despite his bold stance and his willingness to do what is right Luke suffers tragedy and looses the alliance that he has with one side after an ironic and intense ending.

John H. Ritter has a new fan! Seldom do I ever read a story that makes me cry or gasp out loud as this one did. This is a compelling book by a natural-born storyteller.

In "Choosing Up Sides", by John H. Ritter, the reader BECOMES 13 year old Luke Bledsoe, immersed in the sights, sounds, tastes, and feelings of 1921 rural Ohio, identifying with Luke's struggle between his father's expectations and his God given talents.

"Choosing Up Sides" is a must read for all ages.

"Choosing up Sides" is a young adult book for everyone, of every age. The universal need to be one's self, and to be accepted for it, lies at the heart of this story and is sensitively handled by the author. Ritter has numerus opportunities to take the easy way out, and passes each by, opting instead for the more complex, thoughtful and realistic turn of events. I am not a young adult, nor am I left-handed, but I am a human being, which I believe is the only criteria necessary to enjoy this book. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

John Ritter hits a homerun with this novel. In a story for all ages Ritter brings to life young Luke Bledsoe, a 14 year old boy with his eyes on a pretty girl in his class, his right hand on a Bible held by his father, and his left hand on a baseball.
Sports can teach us many lessons in life. Through baseball, Ritter teaches his audience about the power of identity and influence.
At 14, Luke is at a stage in his life when his identity is beginning to be formed. Luke, and many others, start to discover things about himself that he didn't previously consider. The most important of these discoveries is that his dad's interpretation of the Bible didn't seem logical or consistent with Luke's interpretation. Luke struggles throughout the story with choosing sides: his father and mother or his uncle and girlfriend. Luke's final decision is not so much who he stands with as much as what he stands for. Despite his bold stance and his willingness to do what is right Luke suffers tragedy and looses the alliance that he has with one side after an ironic and intense ending.

This book is a great choice for baseball lovers. It's about a boy that wants to play baseball but sports are forbidden in his religion. He lives in a town where everybody is crazy about baseball. His father is a preacher and has many horrible rules.One example of a rule is that the boy is a natural lefy but must use his right hand for everything! According to his father the left hnd is the hand of the devil. "Choosing Up Sides" is a great book!

I have noticed the way the fathers in both of Mr. Ritter's novels, CHOOSING UP SIDES and OVER THE WALL seem to keep their families on their toes in some way or another. In CHOOSING UP SIDES, the father dominated the family by enforcing strict rules with old- fashioned punishments. Luke had to be very careful around him, so he was never quite comfortable. In OVER THE WALL, Tyler felt like his dad was making him "an outsider in his own home." He and his mother had to "talk easy," and "not do anything that might upset Dad." In fact, in both stories, Luke and Tyler seemed to have to hold in their true thoughts and feelings so as not to upset their fathers. Because the cause of this discomfort was different in CHOOSING UP SIDES, the resolution in OVER THE WALL will most likely also be different.

Both of these novels are causing me to think and talk about issues with my friends. I will be looking for more books by John H. Ritter.

Book review

by --John Ritter
reviewed by Burhan Jama

Choosing up sides

Living a life that your parents choose for you what ever they wanted, is how most teenagers live. The book Choosing Up Sides is talking about what is like to be living under the order of parent. It may be you or someone you know, so let us share for a moment what is like to be under siege of a strict parent.
Luke Bledsoe, a 14 years old, left handed, is a son of a preacher Mr. Bledsoe that says left hand is hand of devil. Luke's discovery of that people admired how sharply he could pitch is coming to and end after his father said that, base ball field is devil's playground. Luke's left handed uncle is helping him to discover what his father hid from him;that being left handed is not crime.
Under siege or under control of a religious parent that oppose your ideas to explore you own world and find your dreams who only wants you to flow the old testament is one of the biggest misfortunes that could happen to anyone, as it happen to Luke, the only thing that his father wants him to do is read and memorize the Bible and forget the civilized world. For Luke that seems is not working for him.
The world is changing and new things are being invented every day; people understand how to make life easier and parental control seems to be coming to a limit, there a time in every teenager's life that their parents dictate the power to control them, and there is a time that teens can control them selves.
The message of the book is for those who never under gone this kind of life, to hear and feel the pain that some kids live under their parents and help them to overcome their guilty of choosing up sides---choosing their own way of life.