Customer Reviews

The Seventeenth Swap

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I just finished pre-reading this book, which I assigned as part of my 10 year-old son's home school curriculum. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected I would as an adult, and could not put the book down until I had read through the last 3 chapters to find out how it all came together!
The main character, 11 year old Eric Greene, works as a companion for a boy who is wheelchair-bound and often ill and, therefore, cut off from his peers and much of the world. When the boy becomes unusually enchanted with the seemingly impractical idea of dressing his non-working limbs with a pair of red cowboy boots he sees advertised on sale, Eric desperately desires to see the boy's simple wish fulfilled, though neither his family nor the boy's have a dollar to spare. He selflessly pursues the idea of making enough money to buy the boots for the boy through an intricate series of swaps. As he encounters seemingly insurmountable obstacles along the way and battles discouragement amidst the seeming insignificance of the project, he discovers that the challenge means more to him than just getting the boots for the boy. Should a person pursue an impossible dream, or accept the apparent limits and parameters of his life without even trying or knowing what might have been (as his father and life so far have always taught him to do)?
Amidst all of the deliberation about possible swaps and logistics described in the story, I found myself quietly charmed and inspired by the example of selfless compassion, ingenuity,persistence, and honest soul searching provided by the young protagonist. I am happy that my son will have such an example to consider within this enjoyable story.

This is a well written book with a solid plot and likeable characters. It
is no wild fantasy, neither does it have any breathtaking new ideas. It is one of those books that comes back to you years after you read it with a sense of familiarity, as if you saw a old friend of congenial acquaintance in a crowd of strange faces who you wander over towards, a mild feeling of suprise and a looking forward to chatting with again washing over you. I suggest reading it, but I will not write a synopsis of the book, as that has been done admirably well by the person who read the back of it in the previous review.

Part of SonLight homeschool curriculum. I never had to fight with her to do her reading and she answered the comprehension questions easily.