Speed of Light [School & Library Binding]

Ron Carlson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2004 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

Summer
Baseball
Car Baseball
Sock Ball
Wall Ball
The Time Tower: can you get older faster?
The speed of light: can it be measured?
A carp, washed up in the riberbank: what's inside?

Larry, Witt, and Rafferty have a whole summer to play all the different kinds of baseball, to build structures in the backyard, to find out what makes the world tick. "We've got to keep busy," says Witt. I want to know everything. Not just part."

Larry doesn't want to know what keeps him heading for Witt's backyard, rich with weeds and rotting appliances, whenever he's not at baseball practice. All he knows is that there's no one he'd rather be with than these two friends, that the chaos of Witt's universe offers refuge from his own orderly home and an entrance into a world of change, growth, and unpredictability. THE HOTEL EDEN author Ron Carlson's first novel for young readers is a heady immersion in the first moments of adolescence, when nothing is as it ever was before.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up-The difficult and mysterious slide from childhood into adolescence is described in this unusual novel. The book is set in a rather rough-and-tumble, working-class neighborhood during the 1950s or early 1960s. Early in the summer, Larry and his friends concentrate on their innumerable ball games, breaking the sleep-out record, and conducting their elaborate and dangerous science experiments, which mostly entail blowing objects up or mangling them in some way. As the summer goes on, however, things change for the boys as their lives subtly shift and their interests begin to broaden. Larry stands up to a bully who has terrorized his younger brother and finds himself noticing girls for the first time. Readers see most of the changes through his first-person narration that is beautifully written, yet manages to seem like the genuine voice of a boy on the verge of becoming a young man. As compelling as this novel is, though, it is not for everyone. Some will find the story slow moving and uneventful. In some ways, it is more of a book about childhood for adults. Yet, many teens, especially those who appreciate great writing and who can take a distanced look at their own lives, will find Larry's account to be absorbing and to ring true in many ways.
Todd Morning, Schaumburg Township Public Library, IL
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-7. The author of several short-story collections for adults focuses his first novel for young readers on three best friends, who spend the summer after sixth grade playing endless varieties of baseball, exploring their small town, and trying to figure out the secrets of the universe. Witt, a genius with a violent father, leads the pack, followed by narrator Larry, and Rafferty, who is half-blind because he refuses to wear his glasses. Readers will see their own lives in the friends' improvised games of baseball, backyard sleep-overs, and experiments about everything from reincarnation to the speed of light, but the narrative tone may not resonate as widely. Although Larry uses the present tense, some kids may have trouble believing that his longing, contemplative voice is that of a 12-year-old on summer vacation; it sounds more like a Wonder Years voiceover. Kids who can appreciate the understated, beautiful writing and the nostalgia, however, will enjoy the moving story of what Larry calls his "last" great summer. John Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• School & Library Binding
• Publisher: Topeka Bindery (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 061371900X
• ISBN-13: 978-0613719001
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,782,296 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Carlson is excellent again, September 2, 2003

By 

Scott (Mt Pleasant, SC, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Speed of Light (Hardcover)

This novel may be considered a young adult work by some readers, but it's a young adult novel in the way that _The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ or _To Kill a Mockingbird_ or _Great Expectations_ or any number of other books with young protagonists are. It's about 3 friends and their adventures over that strange, wonderous summer between eleven and twelve... That summer when suddenly the girls become interesting, and dancing is no long to be abjectly feared but possibly even sought out; when there are things in life that are slowly becoming more interesting than baseball or time travel. Carlson has always been excellent at portraying innocence lost and recapturing those whimsical moments of our youth (see "Plan B for the Working Class," "Oxygen," "Keith," to name a few of his stories), but this novel captures a time that most of us have shared in our life so perfectly that it's sad and sweet as nostalgia brewed into a heady and soft liquor. It's suitable for young adults, sure, but this book will do a lot more for grownups than Harry Potter novels ever will.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Like it was, October 9, 2007

By 

Robert Hewes "musicnbooklvr" (Fresno, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Speed of Light (Paperback)

I confess that I have a bias in regard to this book. I grew up in the same neighborhood as Ron Carlson at the same time. He has captured the essence of what youth was like in the west side of Salt Lake City. I can't help but believe that he has captured the essence of life in many cities in the late '50s and early 60's. Narrated from the point of view of a sixth grader, he has recreated a community in which violence is subtly present at all times, yet not acknowledged by the powers of the community. It is a community in which 15% of those who graduate from high school were expected to graduate from college (and many didn't graduate from high school). At the same time he has profoundly presented the naive (innocent?) point of view of children who grow up in such a setting. I remember sleeping out and playing car baseball. Sorenson Park was my hangout in my junior high years, and I remember the bully who tried to take over the park. Miss Talbot was one of my teachers. Carlson has described it well, but the value of the book is not in mere nostalgia. His narration explores numerous themes of adolescence and the responsibility of adults to protect and teach them. Carlson's narration accurately reflects the emotions and thought processes of an adolescent in a working class neighborhood. At the same time he keeps the interest of the reader, who can't help but wonder what's going to happen next. In the last chapter, rather than tell us what happened to every character, he hints and tells us about the meaning of it all. This is a novel I will treasure for years.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All Growing up, January 26, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Speed of Light (Hardcover)

I cant believe there are not more people reading this book. This memoir of the summer between grade school and Jr. high is a classic. The all-star chapters about getting Rafferty voted an all-star, the baseball goggles, and corking the bat are just some of the classic adventures of this part of adolescence.

Dont get the idea that there is just a fun summer of boyhood sleep outs in the book. The retrospective look at Witt, Rafferty, Larry and their families are a look into our own lives and the lives of those around us. Its a heart jerking look at growing up with lots of laughs.