Headlock [Hardcover]

Joyce Sweeney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 19, 2006

A killer combination of high-interest plot and unforgettable characters

 

"All kinds of people.  Little kids, a lot of men, even people your age come to the shows."

 

"They come to see acrobats pretending to wrestle with each other? Kyle is this some kind of sexual thing?"

"No!  It's an athletic thing! It's called sports entertainment. Meaning, it's like a sport, but it's all scripted like theater. You've seen me watching wrestling on Monday and Thursday nights. . . . "

"Oh, that thing!  Kyle, do you mean that terrible program where they hit each other with chairs?  It's like The Three Stooges!  Why would a boy like you with all your talent and brains want to do something foolish like that?"

 

Kyle Bailey is a high-school senior who dreams of becoming a professional wrestler. He can't tell his beloved grandmother, who raised him, because she'll think it's ridiculous, but he gets himself accepted into a rigorous training school and earns a chance at his first professional match.

He's succeeding beyond his wildest dreams, falling in love with an amazing girl, and maybe even getting his grandmother to understand a little, when things take a dramatic turn for the worse. Kyle's flaky estranged mother shows up to "help," and--to his everlasting surprise--actually does.

Critically acclaimed author Joyce Sweeney's books have been chosen as Best Books for Young Adults (ALA), Best Books for the Teen Age (NYPL), Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (ALA), and as Top Ten Sports Books (Booklist).

An honest, warm, and funny novel, Headlock will make wrestling fans of the skeptical, and Joyce Sweeney fans of everyone.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up–High school senior Kyle quits the gymnastics team and enrolls in a school for prospective professional wrestlers, where he makes new friends and rivals and shows promise as a wrestler. After graduation, he lands a beginner's role in an established wrestler's routine. At the brink of fulfilling his dream, the teen has to give up his fledgling career to care for his grandmother, who raised him after his mother abandoned him. Although there are some descriptions of wrestling action, the focus and strong point of the book lies in Kyle's relationships. He breaks away from his high school crowd; begins a sexual relationship with a new, older girlfriend; experiences competition and camaraderie with other wrestling students; and watches friends and enemies succeed and fail. Most difficult of all is when his grandmother's health fails and he is forced to allow his mother back into his life to help with the elderly woman's care. Readably entertaining, in spite of an overly sunny conclusion and some predictability in plotting and in the minor characters, Sweeney's book is somewhat reminiscent of Robert Lipsyte's The Contender (1967) and Nat Hentoff's Jazz Country (1965; o.p., both HarperCollins) in chronicling a young man's pursuit of his dream in an adult world.–Jeffrey A. French, Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library, Willowick, OH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Eighteen-year-old Kyle Bailey, star student and high-school gymnast, has decided to pack it all in to become a professional wrestler. He learns some high-flying moves and finds both challenge and success at the Hard Knocks wrestling school, where he meets a variety of star wrestler wannabes, including a 35-year-old ex con, a librarian, and a 21-year-old woman, who becomes a romantic interest. But his greatest tests are outside the ring as he comes to terms with his beloved French grandmother's declining health and the reappearance of his detached mother. Though entertaining, the story comes together too neatly, Kyle is too good to be true, and the trainers turn out to be father figures (Who would have guessed?). But many of the passages are dead-on depictions of teen life, including one in which Karl loses his virginity (Sweeny doesn't linger overlong on details). What's more, the intriguing descriptions of wrestling will definitely grab an audience. Larra Clark
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 214 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); First Edition edition (September 19, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080508018X
• ISBN-13: 978-0805080186
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,622,596 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Headlock Rocks, April 9, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Headlock (Hardcover)

Kyle Bailey is a high school senior who quits his gymnastics team to join an amateur wrestling class for people who want to go into the WWE. During these wrestling classes Kyle meets new friends, but also new enemies that want to have Kyle out of the class. Kyle graduated and showed real dedication to wrestling, even though he had to take care of his grandmother Chantal who raised him because his mother left him when he was eight. Kyle begins better relationships with his classmates, and kind of forgets about his high school friends. He starts a sexual relationship with his new older, girlfriend Ophelia. Kyle's coaches like him and think he has got good heart and he has potential. Kyle goes through some hard times as he watches his friends get teased and they fail to move on to the advanced class. The worst problem is a dramatic turn for the worse because his grandmother starts to get ill and she needs twenty - four seven care. Kyle is forced to call his mother and bring her back into his life because he is lost and doesn't know what to do anymore. This honest, warm, and funny story will keep you reading until the wonderful ending!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, March 17, 2007

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Headlock (Hardcover)

Kyle Bailey lives with his grandmother, Chantal. He has lived with her since his mother left him there at age four because she realized she wasn't "mother" material. His father has never been in the picture because he was simply a sperm donor from the local sperm bank.

Despite the unusual family situation, Kyle has done well. He is a high school senior and could be on his way to college, but he has other plans. Kyle wants to be a professional wrestler - the WWE kind that is on TV and really act more than wrestle. Unknown to his grandmother or any of his friends, he has enrolled in a wrestling training class, and he is doing quite well.

A local gym is the setting for much of the first half of the novel. Jeff, the instructor, is working with seven students, including one girl. He says Kyle is the most talented beginner he's ever come across. The motley group of students includes talented Kyle, hotshot Danny, hard-working Ben, "elderly" Hector, and the beautiful Ophelia. The training is physical, brutal, and exhausting, and the competition is stiff. Everyone hopes to be recognized by Rat Boy, the owner of the local Gold Coast Wrestling.

Kyle can't believe it when Ophelia shows a romantic interest in him. It just seems to add a little extra sweetness to his ultimate dream. Ophelia even loves his grandmother and spends increasing amounts of time as part of their little family; so much time, that she agrees with Kyle when he begins to notice his grandmother's behavior is changing in disturbing ways.

HEADLOCK by Joyce Sweeney will satisfy many readers. The plot is multi-layered with wrestling action, Kyle's first love, his absent and eccentric mother, and worry about the growing forgetfulness of his grandmother. HEADLOCK is a true page-turner much like Sweeney's previous novels, Players and Takedown.

Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"

5.0 out of 5 stars Headlock, December 8, 2009

By 

Whatcha Reading Now? (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Headlock (Hardcover)

Kyle Bailey dreams of being a professional wrestler. When he tries out with a group of other hopefuls, it seems all his gymnastics training will pay off - he's a natural!

But dream fulfillment usually has unforeseen complications. In Kyle's case they come in the form of a hot wrestler chick named Ophelia and his grandmother Chantel's deteriorating health.

In Headlock, author Joyce Sweeney combines the action of WWE wrestling, the tension of teen romance and a heart wrenching family story. All together, it's a smack down! And even, as a long-time fan of Joyce Sweeney, I'm amazed that she made me a fan of pro-wrestling, too!
-- Reviewed by Michelle Delisle