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The Contender
by Robert Lipsyte

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Editorial Reviews  Amazon.com      Alfred's life is going nowhere fast. He's a high-school dropout working at a grocery store. His best friend is drifting behind a haze of drugs and violence, and now some street punks are harassing him for something he didn't do. Feeling powerless and afraid, Alfred gathers up the courage to visit Donatelli's Gym, the neighborhood's boxing club. He wants to be a champion--on the streets and in his own life. Alfred doesn't quite understand when Mr. Donatelli tells him, "It's the climbing that makes the man. Getting to the top is an extra reward." In the end, he learns that a winner isn't necessarily the one standing when the fight is over. Teens and adults alike will be knocked out by this powerful story of how a frightened boy becomes a man. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.  Language Arts      "A 17-year-old Harlem boy struggles to become a champion boxer in this excellent novel [recommended] for use in the early phases of secondary school literature study."  ALA Booklist      A novel filled with hardships and hope.  Book Description Before you can be a champion, you have to be a contender.      Alfred Brooks is scared. He's a high school dropout and his grocery store job is leading nowhere. His best friend is sinking further and further into drug addiction. Some street kids are after him for something he didn't even do. So Alfred begins going to Donatelli's Gym, a boxing club in Harlem that has trained champions. There he learns it's the effort, not the win, that makes the man -- that last desperate struggle to get back on your feet when you thought you were down for the count.  Ingram      Struggling to live respectably in a rundown ghetto, Alfred Brooks defends himself against junkies, thieves, and gangs.  About the Author      Robert Lipsyte's list of publications for young people isn't especially lengthy when compared to those of other authors who have been writing for the same length of time. But that's because writing books for and about teenagers isn't the only kind of writing he does, or the only kind of work he does, for that matter. Among other things, Robert Lipsyte has been a highly respected columnist and a prize-winning sports reporter for the New York Times, a correspondent for the CBS television program Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt, the host of his own award-winning television interview program, The Eleventh Hour, on New York City's public television station, and author of a television documentary series about sports. Most importantly, he is the author of The Contender, one of the very first realistic novels about contemporary teenagers and a book that has been required reading in many American schools for the past three decades. Recognizing the importance of that book as well as his other works, the American Library Association honored Robert Lipsyte with the Margaret A. Edwards Award in 2001. Mr. Lipsyte lives in New York, NY.      Winner of the 2001 Margaret Edwards Award

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