Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary Publication.Date November 1st 2011 Pages: 272 Published By: Razorbill | Website 50 Cent |
Playground - Goodreads My review copy: Received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Buy now:
Barnes and Noble | Amazon | Book Depository
Thirteen-year-old Butterball doesn’t have much going for him. He’s teased mercilessly about his weight. He hates the Long Island suburb his mom moved them to and wishes he still lived with his dad in the city. And now he’s stuck talking to a totally out-of-touch therapist named Liz.
Liz tries to uncover what happened that day on the playground—a day that landed one kid in the hospital and Butterball in detention. Butterball refuses to let her in on the truth, and while he evades her questions, he takes readers on a journey through the moments that made him into the playground bully he is today.
This devastating yet ultimately redemptive story is told in voice-driven prose and accented with drawings and photographs, making it a natural successor to The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.
Loosely inspired by 50 Cent’s own adolescence, and written with his fourteen-year-old son in mind, Playground is sure to captivate wide attention— and spark intense discussion.
(goodreads.com)Liz tries to uncover what happened that day on the playground—a day that landed one kid in the hospital and Butterball in detention. Butterball refuses to let her in on the truth, and while he evades her questions, he takes readers on a journey through the moments that made him into the playground bully he is today.
This devastating yet ultimately redemptive story is told in voice-driven prose and accented with drawings and photographs, making it a natural successor to The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.
Loosely inspired by 50 Cent’s own adolescence, and written with his fourteen-year-old son in mind, Playground is sure to captivate wide attention— and spark intense discussion.
"Listen, lady, I'm sure you mean well, but let's you and me get one thing straight right now. I'm here because if I get expelled from school, I'll have to sit around my mom's apartment all day, and if I have to sit around my mom's apartment all day, I'll go even crazier than I am already, know what I', saying? So I'll sit here with you, but only if you ease off."
"That's perfectly all right, But--"
"What, are you deaf or something? Didn't you hear me say don't call me that like ten times already? I go by Butterball, all right? Bu-tter-ball," I sounded it out. "It's not that hard."
Maurice rose from the bench, and now his expression was definitely frightened. He put down his book and took a few steps toward me, and that's when I gave it to him. I reached into my pocket and BAM! I whacked Maurice right across that self-satisfied grin of his, and I pounded those batteries into his teeth over and over until I felt something come loose.
When I pulled my hand away from his face for the last time, I suddenly became aware of how the whole scene had gone completely silent all around us: how all of those kids just stood there staring at me like I was finally something. And I'd be lying if I said that didn't feel pretty damn good.
When I first heard that 50 Cent wrote a book I was utterly baffled. I mean, seriously? 50 Cent? Writing Young Adult books? It was like trying to imagine Snoop Dog singing in opera, the idea was ridiculous. I'm not a fan of 50 Cent, I don't think I ever listened to any of his songs.. I admit, I don't know much about him as a person, either. It's just that.. he never really struck me as the writing type (if you know what I mean). I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. But at the same time, I was insanely curious about this book! Who wouldn't be? The best part? I really enjoyed reading it! Believable, funny, insightful - Playground made a very positive impression on me. Color me surprised!
13-year-old Butterball doesn't have an easy life. After his parents divorced and his mom moved them away from Bronx to Garden City, Butterball finds himself struggling to adapt to the new environment. Back in Bronx he was someone, he had a group of friends and he was respected by others. Here, he's just the fat, black kid. He lives with his mother, but she's too busy working to spend quality time with him. His father doesn't care much about him, either. He's way too busy pursuing meaningless, purely physical "relationships" to ever pay attention to his son. Butterball is all on his own. Then one day he gets in trouble for assaulting a kid with a sock full of batteries, a kid that used to be Butterball's only friend there. After that, he's forced to attend weekly sessions with a psychologist. Butterball's initial attitude of "I-don't-want-to-talk-about-it" and "you-would-never-understand" begins to change over time, as the psychologist's patient and non-judgmental approach slowly wins his trust. As the story progresses, we learn more about the main character and the motives behind his actions. After all, there's no smoke without fire, and there's definitely more to Butterball than meets the eye.
Playground is a book about bullying, yes, but not a typical one at all. From my experience, most of the bullying-related books out there are focused solely on the victims and their accounts of the accidents. Playground, however, offers something different - the bully's side of the story. Now you ought to know that I went into reading this book with curiosity but also a healthy dose of skepticism. I was afraid that it will turn out to be a major failure. I was prepared to toss it away after the first 20 pages or so. But it never happened. I loved Butterball's believable and often hilarious voice. It was vibrant, full of life and dripping with all sorts of emotions. He turned out to be a great character to read about. Slang, swear words, short sentences and simple vocabulary - all that helped to depict him. I enjoyed seeing the world through his eyes and, believe it or not, I really felt sorry for him at times. Imagine my surprise, when I hit the back cover without even realizing that I was reading for the whole day - without a single break!
Now I don't know if 50 Cent hired a ghostwriter to do all the hard work, and it really doesn't matter. All I know is this book is damn good! It's deeper than I ever expected. It offers a fresh new take on the issue of bullying, one that I found quite thought-provoking and eye-opening. The writing itself is pretty good, too. The characters are well-drawn. The plot is simple, but well thought-out and fast-paced. It's an easy, quick read, but also quite a meaningful one. Don't let your prejudices stop you from reading it, it's definitely worth picking up!
13-year-old Butterball doesn't have an easy life. After his parents divorced and his mom moved them away from Bronx to Garden City, Butterball finds himself struggling to adapt to the new environment. Back in Bronx he was someone, he had a group of friends and he was respected by others. Here, he's just the fat, black kid. He lives with his mother, but she's too busy working to spend quality time with him. His father doesn't care much about him, either. He's way too busy pursuing meaningless, purely physical "relationships" to ever pay attention to his son. Butterball is all on his own. Then one day he gets in trouble for assaulting a kid with a sock full of batteries, a kid that used to be Butterball's only friend there. After that, he's forced to attend weekly sessions with a psychologist. Butterball's initial attitude of "I-don't-want-to-talk-about-it" and "you-would-never-understand" begins to change over time, as the psychologist's patient and non-judgmental approach slowly wins his trust. As the story progresses, we learn more about the main character and the motives behind his actions. After all, there's no smoke without fire, and there's definitely more to Butterball than meets the eye. Playground is a book about bullying, yes, but not a typical one at all. From my experience, most of the bullying-related books out there are focused solely on the victims and their accounts of the accidents. Playground, however, offers something different - the bully's side of the story. Now you ought to know that I went into reading this book with curiosity but also a healthy dose of skepticism. I was afraid that it will turn out to be a major failure. I was prepared to toss it away after the first 20 pages or so. But it never happened. I loved Butterball's believable and often hilarious voice. It was vibrant, full of life and dripping with all sorts of emotions. He turned out to be a great character to read about. Slang, swear words, short sentences and simple vocabulary - all that helped to depict him. I enjoyed seeing the world through his eyes and, believe it or not, I really felt sorry for him at times. Imagine my surprise, when I hit the back cover without even realizing that I was reading for the whole day - without a single break!
Now I don't know if 50 Cent hired a ghostwriter to do all the hard work, and it really doesn't matter. All I know is this book is damn good! It's deeper than I ever expected. It offers a fresh new take on the issue of bullying, one that I found quite thought-provoking and eye-opening. The writing itself is pretty good, too. The characters are well-drawn. The plot is simple, but well thought-out and fast-paced. It's an easy, quick read, but also quite a meaningful one. Don't let your prejudices stop you from reading it, it's definitely worth picking up!
❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
I enjoyed this book a lot. So much that I decided to give away a copy to my International readers :)
All you need to do to enter is be a GFC follower and enter through the Rafflecopter below!
Open INTERNATIONALLY
ENDS: December 20th
❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
This review is posted as a part of the MEN in YA event (Nov 20th - Dec 20th)
❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
About the AuthorEvie is the Blogger behind Bookish. She enjoys reading many different genres, especially YA, Paranormal, Contemporary Fiction and Fantasy.She loves talking to authors and is always happy to welcome them for interviews, and guest posts. She also likes spreading the love for awesome books and chatting with fellow book-worms.
You can find Evie here: Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Shelfari | The Library Thing
