Customer Reviews

Imitate the Tiger

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a really good book. The scenes of the story come alive. I have to read it for 9 AD English and it was one of the first school books that I enjoyed reading. We have to read it because it is about the school I go to, Valley Central High School. The football stats are correct to because in 1969 we won the Section IX championship and went undefeated.

This book was on the same level as teen life during high school years. There are a lot of teens like Chris Serbo out there. Some kids turn to drugs or alcohol because their home life isn't good or they're depressed. In Imitate the Tiger, alcohol controls Chris Serbo's life. He is a senior in high school, a linebacker on the football team, and his life is a downhill tumble and an uphill struggle because of his addiction to alcohol.
He doesn't get along with his only guardian, his Aunt Catherine, and he justifies his drinking by blaming his dad's alcoholism and his friends'drinking. However, what Serbo doesn't realize is that he takes it too far. He gets drunk at a school dance, and it becomes one of the worst nights of his life. Chris risks his position on the football team as linebacker with his drinking.
His English teacher, Mrs. Whittaker, confronts him with his problem and he gets mad. Chris doesn't think he has a problem; he says he doesn't drink any more than anybody else does, but he does. He steals from his aunt's liquor cabinet, and he sneaks into bars after football games. A mutual decision toward the end of the book changes his life. Mrs. Whittaker, his Aunt Catherine and the principal decide to send Chris to a school for alcoholics to help him with his problem. He goes to try to conquer his alcohol demons.
I recommend Imitate the Tiger to any teen that knows someone going down the wrong road or likes an eye-opening story.

I liked this book a lot. It's about a boy whos in college and plys for the high school football team. He's an achoholic. They send him to a special school for ... and ... . It tells about his life and his life was not so bad.I highly recomend this to advanced readers and people who like sports. It does have some bad language in it though. It's a really good book.

HI! My name is Sarah and I live in Italy..I am in 10th grade..Last school year Jan Cheripko came to our school and presented this book to us and other books he is working on.. My teacher just told me this school year that she had extra copies of Imitate the Tiger and I said "hey, why dont I try it" so I did...The book was so GOOD! I cried at the end! It is vivid and shows the struggles some teens have to face..I love it SO much and I am happy that I bought it! Chris Serbo was almost like a real person to me! Great writing! 10 stars is there was that many!

Imitate The Tiger
By Jan Cheripko.

The senior at Valley View High, Christopher Serbro was given away when he was a little boy to his Aunt Catherine by his father who was a low paid alcoholic that didn't know how to take care of his children. His mother's death was too much to handle for his father. Before Christopher's mother died, Chris's father was in the military. That's all he knew how to do. He would go to work drunk, come home drunk, and when his wife died one day, he didn't know what to do.
Chris is an athlete. Chris plays football for the Valley View High team. He loves football because it's the only way he can get away from his problems such as his father, and Chris's ex girlfriend leaving him for someone else. Chris just likes to run away. He doesn't know how to control his feelings, and his abuse of alcohol. He doesn't know how to control his thirst for alcohol and he blames everything on his father. When Chris does drink, and people remind him that he drinks too much he tells them that he isn't an alcoholic like his father. Deep down inside he knows they are right about his drinking habits. Christopher's friends are not the best in the world, sometimes but there are there.
The audience should read this book because it's a good learning experience about a boy becoming a man that has alcoholic problems in his life. To learn how Chris to control his anger and his family. Suddenly he doesn't know whom to trust because he has no friends. What he's feeling when he is alone at home or when someone hit's him he doesn't know how to react he wants to hit them back because reflexes tells him to but he doesn't know what to do. Chris is an emotional boy that cry's when he get hits but that's him he just doesn't know how to handle things he wasn't brought up in a life that was loveable life so when he cry's he wants someone to hold him, and love him but no ones there.
Chris is an American citizen that lives in the United States. He lives with his Aunt Catherine in an old house. Chris goes to school at Valley View High School.

Imitate the Tiger

The book that I recently read was Imitate the Tiger written by Jan Cheripko. The story main character is Chris Serbo, a senior at Valley View High. Chris loves football and is athletic, but he likes to drink too much. He faces many conflicts and obstacles when he starts drinking constantly. He slowly changes and starts to lose all his loved ones. Since his mother died and his father wasn't capable of keeping Chris, he lives with his Aunt Catherine. He comes in drunk just about every night, but it is just a normal life for Chris until he makes the wrong decision. Now he is trying to find his way out of this horrible nightmare. His grades are starting to drop if he doesn't shape up he might fail school, and get kicked out of the house. Chris also is trying to play in the championship game he has little time, and very small choices on what to do with life, but the night of the school dance ignites all of his problems. He has to come face to face with his fears to save everything he loves.

Mrs. Whittaker, Chris' teacher at Valley View High is trying to understand why Chris is changing. He is a good student, but when his grades start dropping she is a mission to see what's up. She thinks Chris is drinking but doesn't have any proof. Chris thinks that she is out to get him, but he find out that she is trying to help. He has two decisions, and time is running out fast. He has to race against the clock to turn his life around and I think time has just run out.

I think this book was great. I really liked how the author made the story actually come to life, I felt like I was in the story. It shows me a description on how a senior's life is. It also tells people about drinking, you shouldn't do it or you could lose everything that you love. I recommend this book to all people who like sports and that like books with many tragic conflicts. Anyone who likes to actually get into a story should read this. It gives you great pictures in your mind on a senior's life that plays football and drinks. It also can get you into different mood swings like when he gets beat up, you feel mad and when he broke up with his girlfriend you feel sorry for him.

Imitate the Tiger, by Jan Cheripko is features Chris Serbo, a senior in high school. He plays defense on the school football team and is a big shot at school. At an early age Chris was forced to live with his aunt when his mother died and his father became an alcoholic. As Chris gets older he starts to realize his strong love for football and alcohol.
As Chris becomes more dependant on alcohol, it starts to ruin his life. He doesn't realize what drove his girlfriend away from him, he doesn't understand how much he has hurt his friend Polly, he doesn't understand why his grades are slipping away, and he doesn't understand he is hurting himself. Chris has become an alcoholic, and he doesn't even realize it. Most of the school knows, but they just look the other way; however, there is one teacher who will not look the other way, Mrs. Whittaker, Chris' history teacher.
As Mrs. Whittaker tries to find a way to help Chris, Chris puts all his energy into football and drinking. The championship is close, for the school football team has the opportunity to be district champions. One night after a party where Chris gets drunk, he meets his worst nightmare on an empty highway where he must realize what he has become and the consequences of it.
This is a great book and it is a good example for teenagers. It shows real-life situations and how alcohol can ruin anyone's life. This is a great book, and I recommend this book to everyone.

The book I recently finished was a book called Imitate the Tiger by Jan Cheripko.This book is about a boy named Chris serbo. Chris is a big athlete who is in love with the game of football but also in love with alcohol.
I liked this book because it shows real life situations that happen in a high school student's lives. One other thing I liked about this book was that it was about football because football is a great sport. The last thing that I liked about the book was that it shows teenagers that alcohol ruins everything you like and care for. For example Chris and football.
The book mainly is about how Chris's obsession with alcohol destroys his relationship with his friends, his girl friend, his parents, and his schoolwork. I definitely agree with the theme. I think the theme is really up to date and something that would affect a high school student. This theme relates to me in no way at all because I don't drink but I do play football.
I would recommend this book to others. I would recommend this to mostly boys because it deals with alcohol and sports. This book was a really good book because it dealt with real life situations that a high school boy would deal with. If I had the chance to read this book again I would because it was such a good book and I liked how it dealt with football.

The book I recently finished was a book called Imitate the Tiger by Jan Cheripko.This book is about a boy named Chris serbo. Chris is a big athlete who is in love with the game of football but also in love with alcohol.
I liked this book because it shows real life situations that happen in a high school student's lives. One other thing I liked about this book was that it was about football because football is a great sport. The last thing that I liked about the book was that it shows teenagers that alcohol ruins everything you like and care for. For example Chris and football.
The book mainly is about how Chris's obsession with alcohol destroys his relationship with his friends, his girl friend, his parents, and his schoolwork. I definitely agree with the theme. I think the theme is really up to date and something that would affect a high school student. This theme relates to me in no way at all because I don't drink but I do play football.
I would recommend this book to others. I would recommend this to mostly boys because it deals with alcohol and sports. This book was a really good book because it dealt with real life situations that a high school boy would deal with. If I had the chance to read this book again I would because it was such a good book and I liked how it dealt with football.

Searching to fill the void in his life, Chris Serbo, begins to find comfort in alcohol. As he struggles to play football and copes with the loss of his parents, his grades begin to drop and he finds trouble at home with Aunt Catherine. Chris's life seemed normal, from the outside, until the big mistake happened. Now he finds himself in a place he never dreamed he would be. There are many battles Chris will face as he begins the long journey to find himself, but will perseverance see him through? This is a captivating story of a young teenage boy striving to survive the hardships of life. He suffers many consequences that are a result of alcohol. This book would be interesting to young teens in the eighth grade and above. Teachers as well as parents could use this book to teach or study physical education, social studies, social relationships and health.