Restless [Hardcover]

Rich Wallace (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

Renowned for being one of the few writers who can hit the mark with teenage boys, Rich Wallace takes the sports novel and pushes it into thought-provoking new territory.

Seventeen-year-old Herbie takes life as it comes-his small town in eastern Pennsylvania, his divorced parents, his football and cross-country coaches who can't quite understand why he would want to go out for both sports simultaneously. Not many people do understand the kid that's under the wisecracking, laid-back exterior. But his older brother does. The only thing is, his brother's dead.

Here's a ghost story as real and exhilarating as they come.

"Rich Wallace vaults into the first string with Bruce Brooks and Chris Crutcher."-Robert Lipsyte, author of The Contender

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up-Herbie, 17, has taken on a lot in the last few weeks of summer. He has decided that he's going to participate in two sports in the fall, football and cross-country. He is out late one night running through a graveyard when he senses someone following him. This feeling stays with him for the rest of his run and makes him more than a little uneasy but also a little intrigued. He begins to make this route a routine, and each time the presence becomes more intense. One evening, a ghost of a young man materializes out of thin air and touches him. Afterward, Herbie begins to sense and, on occasion, see other spirits, including that of his older brother, Frank, who has been dead for 10 years. Herbie, Frank, and the ghost of Eamon, the original spirit he encountered, are intertwined in a search for an understanding of one another's experiences in life and in death and how to move on from them. This story is a bit tricky to follow. The narrator is revealed, eventually, as the spirit of Frank but his first-person account seems to complicate the telling. The jumps among the three story lines can be abrupt but shouldn't be a problem for fans of ghost or fantasy stories. Herbie is a smart, likable, and compassionate protagonist. Otherworldly encounters are popular with teens, and this one should appeal to thoughtful readers who won't be overwhelmed by the complexity of the plot or the sophistication of the writing.
Donna M. Knott, The Lovett School, Atlanta
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 8-12. Like Wallace's popular Wrestling Sturbridge (1996), and his recent story collection, Losing Is Not an Option [BKL Ag 03], this novel is also set in Sturbridge, Pennsylvania, but this time the sports action blends with a poignant ghost story. Seventeen-year-old Herbie is a great athlete, successfully managing both cross-country and football. During a run through the town cemetery, he becomes aware of a ghostly presence. The silent ghost he encounters is Eamon Connolly, a distant relative, who died in 1888 and has not been able to leave his earthly remains. But there's another, similarly "stuck" ghost in the cemetery--Herbie's older brother, Frank, who died at 17 and clings to his little brother for vicarious youthful experiences. Sports, family loyalty, and questions of spirituality and the afterlife meld well in this affecting tale, which will attract, and perhaps surprise, Wallace's many fans. Debbie Carton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Viking Juvenile; 1St Edition edition (September 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670036056
• ISBN-13: 978-0670036059
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,539,860 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rich Wallace is an award-winning author of many novels for kids and teenagers. Recent work includes the Kickers series of soccer novels for kids in grades 2-4; the middle-grade historical novel War and Watermelon, set in the summer of Woodstock; and Sports Camp, about an 11-year-old boy away at camp for the first time. Novels for teenagers including Wrestling Sturbridge, Playing Without the Ball, and Perpetual Check, among others. He is also the author of The Timbertoes feature in Highlights magazine. Visit his web site at www.richwallacebooks.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book to make you think, December 11, 2005

By 

YA Reader (Boise, ID, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Restless (Hardcover)

I should have paid more attention when I picked up this book. I thought it said "a ghost story", "not a ghost's story". This book is told from the point of view of the ghost (Frank). Frank's brother, Herbie is about to begin his senior year and he has decided to go out for two sports--football and cross-country. He is now the same age as his brother was when he died.

The premise of the book is that there are some things that must be done while yet alive. It is a book that really gets you thinking about your own life and what you are doing with it.

While there are no objectionable words, I would recommend this for readers over age 12 due to subject matter. Definately one of the better books I have read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MORE THAN A SPORTS NOVEL!, June 16, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Restless (Hardcover)

Author Wallace is a natural at writing exciting, realistic sports action. However, RESTLESS is about so much more than sports. It's a surprising mystery filled with real teens. The dialog is amazing! It's how real people talk. Here are three non-sports reasons you'll love this book:
1. Everyone would like to be like Herbie, the main character.
2. Everyone would want a big brother like Frank.
3. Everyone knows someone like Eamon the Ghost.
Wallace's book is honest, funny and dramatic. I can't wait for the next one.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get ready for one of the best reads of the season!, July 26, 2004

By 

Teenreads.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Restless (Hardcover)

Herbie: When Herbie is running through the graveyard, building his endurance for his heavy sports schedule, he knows almost immediately that there is a presence with him. Even when he thinks about all of this afterwards, he knows he will not be able to stay away from the graveyard and the spirit that beckons to him.

Frank: Eight years older than his brother, Frank died of cancer at seventeen. He was not ready to leave and fought hard to hang onto his body, but it finally just gave out. He misses Herbie, his parents and all the passions that he could never have. Frank needs to let Herbie know that things are finally going to be all right and that he can move on. But something else is happening in the graveyard, and even Frank can't understand who the spirit is that is reaching for him.

Eamon: Killed in a tragic accident in the late 1800s, Eamon has not found his peace. He is looking for a way out but does not know where he really is. He has found a great energy in the running boy and a possible channel to another world.

RESTLESS is one of the most original YA books to come along in recent years. While there are themes of spirituality and time travel, what lies underneath the ongoing story are the themes of love and endurance. Author Rich Wallace has done some detailed research into theories about the afterlife and expresses this information beautifully through his characters and the story line. His characters are chained together in their common theme of grief and loneliness. Frank (who has been dead for eight years) narrates most of the story, which gives it an entirely fresh perspective.

This book grabs you from the first page and won't let you go until its exciting and rewarding climax. Get ready for one of the best reads of the season!

--- Reviewed by Sally Tibbetts ([e-mail])