Knockout
By K. A. Holt
4.5/5
()
About this ebook
K. A. Holt
K.A. Holt is a writer, a terrible cook, and a mother of three (not necessarily in that order). When she’s not busy imagining how she would survive a zombie apocalypse, she’s busy imagining how she will survive the day. Kirkus and Publishers Weekly praised her first book for children, MIKE STELLAR: NERVES OF STEEL, with words like precocious and complex, and savvy and sharp.
Read more from K. A. Holt
House Arrest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Redwood and Ponytail Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rhyme Schemer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5BenBee and the Teacher Griefer: The Kids Under the Stairs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ben Y and the Ghost in the Machine: The Kids Under the Stairs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGnome-a-geddon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRed Moon Rising Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
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Reviews for Knockout
9 ratings10 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Much like "The Crossover", this book employs concrete poetry to great effect. The playfulness of the text is in stark contrast to the strong emotions of Levi, his family, and his friends. The story explores a physically challenged boy as he attempts to grow into a middle-schooler, into himself, and find his place as a member of his fractured family. Pushed and pulled in all directions, Levi attempts to understand his world through his own eyes after being sheltered previously for health and emotional reasons. Not all his attempts succeed and he learns that hurting and causing hurt are part of growing up. He finally finds an anchor in boxing though it is but one of the many interesting aspects of this book. I agree with other reviewers that this book is touching, raw, natural, and thoughtful. The story is driven by the characters but without the obligation to identify those characters as being of any particular race, creed, etc. They are simply people experiencing the all too gritty reality of modern American urban life. The human emotion expressed through the poetic style of the prose gives the book a strong and far-reaching touch and engages the reader emotionally. While Levi does grow in many ways throughout the story and overcomes many challenges, he does not really learn empathy despite the book's attempts to portray it as such. His own desire to be himself and his family's acceptance of that desire can come across as selfish as Levi spends much if not all of the book, with the exception of his relationship with is brother, feeling sorry for himself and blaming others for his challenges and failures. Again this is a natural element that adds strength to the book but perhaps weakens Levi as a protagonist.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This companion to House Arrest follows sick-baby Levi in middle school. He's looking for his thing. He's trying to better understand his brother. When his dad let's him start boxing, he loves it! But his body is still struggling. His family is still divided, his dad is still not trusted. A quick read in verse.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5*I was sent this book by LibraryThing in exchange for my honest review.*Thank you to the author and publisher for providing me this book. I really enjoyed this book. It took me a long time to get to reading this book because I had so much to do with life recently. Overall I enjoyed this book and I think I’m going to lend it to my younger cousin to read because I think they’ll enjoy it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5(I got this book for free from LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers.)I haven’t read “House Arrest”, the companion book to this one, but this book was able to stand on its own. (Though reading it did make me want to read the other.) The verse format made the story trip right along, though I could have done without the occasional typographical weirdness.There are a lot of issues in this story: a sick child who’s growing up and wants to be like other kids, a distant and unreliable father, lying to your parents and keeping secrets from them, your best friend finding a new friend she seems to like better, conflict within the family, etc. These are many issues that kids in the target age, middle school, will have to deal with, and I thought the story handled them well.I think middle school kids of either sex, particularly ones who are interested in boxing or who have dealt with chronic illness in themselves or their families, will really like this book.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Simply put, I really enjoyed this book. I loved the prose and the story. It was quite a unique book, a task that is truly difficult to accomplish. I really enjoyed getting to know Levi and see how he struggled with trying to be a normal kid. I think this book would make a great addition to any classroom library.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Great to pair with Jocko Willink’s Way of the Warrior Kid. A bit of a longer book because it’s a novel in verse, but the topic and vulnerability of the main character will hook young male readers in!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Written in verse like form, a fictional middle schooler’s journey at age 12, through his first year of middle school is chronicled. He is not the typical boy given his small stature, respiratory problems, a much older brother, and a mostly absent dad. But he has spunk and is smart. I read this in one setting and loved it. It can be read alone or as a sequel to HOUSE ARREST. Adults as well as tweens forward would love this.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5K.A. Holt's novel-in-verse, Knock Out, is refreshing in both its simplicity and its depth. Levi is a complex character who is at once confident, self conscious, witty, and curious. His social, physical, and home-life challenges are extremely relatable to the middle-grade/YA reader, and K.A.'s word-art and word-play are approachable and thought provoking. I have not read House Arrest yet (though I read and loved Rhyme Schemer!) and as I was reading, I did not feel that I needed that background in order to follow and enjoy Knock Out. I can't wait to share this novel-in-verse with my students! Young adults and middle schoolers will love this book!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I picked this book out because I thought it would challenge me -- I'm no enormous fan of boxing or poetry. However, I ate this book up (don't let my Goodreads timeline fool you. I actually read it in two days). I loved the complexity of the complexity of the relationships: mother-son, brother-brother, father-son, friend-friend. . . The way the book is written really pulled out the emotions and perspectives of all the characters. For example, my favourite line comes up when Levi is explaining his class clown behavior at school. He is a 12-year-old who has spent his whole life with health problems. As a result, he is small for his age and an easy target. So:"I burn brightI can't be invisibleso I shine right in their eyes." (p. 36)I also really like the subtle way Holt diversifies her cast. The only time she identifies the race of a character is when said character was white. I'm not sure if it was a correct assumption, but from there on out, I pictured nearly everyone else as black. Tam, Levi's friend, may or may not be gay. It's never explicitly stated, and she may not be sure yet herself. I thought it was a really thoughtful and tender exploration of a middle-schooler beginning to understand a part of herself as seen through her friend's eyes. That's how I'd sum up this book: thoughtful and tender.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm not sure how to characterize the writing style of K.A. Holt in Knockout. It is prose, but written poetically. Anyhow, the story of Levi, the protagonist, is interesting, unexpected, and told in such a way that Knockout was hard to put down once begun.
Book preview
Knockout - K. A. Holt
PART I
KNOCKOUT?
Mom would die,
keel over dead,
if she saw me right now.
If she saw me up here.
Got my schedule today.
First day of seventh grade
right around
the
looming
corner.
Mom wanted to come with me.
Timothy wanted to come with me.
(to get my schedule
not to seventh grade)
But I asked,
I begged
to do this myself.
Just walk the halls,
strut along,
saying Hi to friends
figuring out where my classes will be.
I can’t believe they let me!
And!
I can’t believe I had extra time
afterwards
to hang out in my tree.
The world spreads out
from the top of a tree.
I can see everything,
everyone,
and no one can see me.
I can be anything up here.
I can imagine
walking down the street,
a man with a cane,
a woman with a bike,
a kid with a bunch of friends.
I can be anyone.
I can be anything.
I spy
with my
little eye
a
bird.
Not a bird in the tree
but a bird on the field—
enormous head,
big flapping wings,
running around,
crazy.
A kid in a suit
zoom
zoom
zooming.
Everyone’s laughing eyes
on that beak
on those wings—
cheerleaders hoot
the coach, too,
and the bird stops
takes off his head
wings on his hips
and he’s a she!
She’s so funny
running around.
Hello up there?
Hellooooooo?
A voice I know.
A voice that makes me smile.
Only squirrels in this tree
I yell down
Only birds,
and leaves.
Leave-eyes?
Ha!
Yes!
The
see everything
you do
so YOU
better watch out.
My best friend in the whole world
is a girl
I met
in kindergarten.
She is practically twice as tall as me,
she’s a skinny twig, too.
If I look in the mirror
and see me,
she must look in the mirror
and see e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e.
m
She was born early, too.
She was a two-pound baby, too.
She has an inhaler, too.
But she did not have a trach;
she does not drink high-calorie protein shakes,
and her mom doesn’t make her stay home
and constantly wash her hands.
So much in common
and yet
so much apart.
Tam pushes her way up,
the fat branch
our bench
as she sits
and waves a piece of paper.
Show me
a wrinkle in her forehead
the only tiny sign
of her worry.
I hold my schedule
we compare
and just like that
there’s no air.
Only one class!
Only one class together!
Tam and I have been together
every
year
since
kindergarten
and now
only
one
class!
My watch says it is precisely
definitely
thirty minutes later
than I thought.
Dang!
Timothy!
Tam and I leap from the tree,
flying squirrels
B A M
my ankles creak at the impact
but I shake
shake
shake
it off.
Wave to Tam
as she runs home,
make it to the car
—late—
look through the driver’s window,
Timothy’s mad.
It’s not like I’m
THAT late.
It’s not like I’m
a tiny baby, can’t take care of himself.
It’s not like I’m
going to keel over any second.
It’s not like
it used to be . . .
just don’t tell Timothy.
He won’t believe you.
You should keep better track of time.
My brother’s voice is deep,
growly,
a sleepy bear waking up.
You should’ve let me know,
if you’ll be late.
You should’ve known
I’d be worried.
He keeps talking.
I put in my earbuds,
turn up the Band with No Name.
Let him talk until he’s blue in the face.
Talk talk talk, man.
Because my face?
It isn’t blue anymore,
and it never will be.
That means
there’s no reason
for him to keep nagging me.
Jeez.
I don’t remember
the hole in my neck,
the trach tube I needed to breathe,
the medical equipment in the house,
the almost dying,
the surgeries.
I don’t remember any of it.
It’s all just stories,
and it’s very weird
to be the main character of a story
that’s technically yours
but feels more like everyone else’s.
Timothy
Timothy
Timothy says a lot
usually beginning with
You should . . .
and continuing with
blah blah blah . . .
and starting over again
until there are so many shoulds
he probably keeps a
Should Book
to keep track of his one million
T I M O T H Y ’ S R U L E S
F O R E V E R Y D A Y
B L A H - B L A H S
It’s very interesting he has so many rules
considering
he apparently broke every rule
ever made
when he was my age.
He was a legitimate delinquent!
(And he won’t say what he did!)
But now,
now
I can barely sneeze
without getting the third degree
from Timothy
who thinks he is
Levi’s Supreme Brother/Dad/Boss of All Things.
The Band with No Name
blisters my eardrums
while Timothy grips the steering wheel
both hands
curled tight
and I wonder
what blisters Timothy’s ears
when he wants to drown out the world?
Or is he too much in control
to ever want the world
to shut up?
Is Timothy’s world just like the steering wheel,
and Timothy is too afraid to
loosen
his
grip?
Hand sanitizer
in the kitchen
in the car
on the shelf
never very far.
Gotta kill the germs, Levi.
Gotta stay alive, Levi.
There’s a bubble trapped
in the green goo,
stuck there
trapped bits of air
in an antiseptic world.
I feel you, stuck bubble.
I feel you, trapped air.
My world keeps me close, too.
Leaving the house is not exactly forbidden,
but Mom doesn’t love it.
Timothy doesn’t love it.
They want me safe
and healthy
and obviously
bored out of my mind.
I think they forget
being alive will not make me die.
Mom and Timothy keep me close,
keep me well.
It used to be I didn’t care.
It used to be that’s just
How It Was.
But now . . .
now . . .
something is changing.
My insides feel like leaves
blowing blowing blowing,
a storm coming.
I want the wind to catch me
carry me off
break me free.
I don’t want to be stuck inside
tangled
caught in the branches
anymore.
When I need to be alone
I sneak away,
hide in my tree.
When I’m in my tree
I can be
me.
I am short,
not tall.
I am small,
not big.
I like to moooooove
zoom
–d –a –s –h
fast
I am Levi.
I am fine.
Can anyone see that?
Can anyone see me?
Timothy reaches over,
pops out one of my earbuds.
Breathin’ easy?
This is what Timothy and I say
instead of Hi
or
How are you?
or
What’s up?
We’ve said it as long as I can remember.
I used to think everyone said it
until on the very first day of kindergarten
Tam said
Huh?
when I asked her: Breathin’ easy?
And that was my first hint
that maybe my life is more
different
than everyone else’s
straight line.
Breathin’ easy
I answer,
popping my earbud back in.
His eyes