Friday, November 28, 2008

Burn Suzanne Phillips


Burn Suzanne Phillips- Cameron is only few days into his freshman year of high school when the bullying starts. Phillips has given us a fully developed character in Cameron making Burn a very hard book to put down. Through Cameron the reader can understand how hard it is psychically and emotionally to go to school everyday when being bullied. I loved how the bully began, it was such a simple mistake. In high school its not only the big things that can turn someone into an outcast. Cameron's nightmare began when the coach accidentally directed him toward the girl's gym. The next day the football players started calling him, Cameron Diaz. The ringer leader is a junior named Rich Patterson. From the beginning Cameron is barely holding on, to assert some control in his life, Cameron plays with matches. He is attracted to the smell, the sound, and the ability to control something alive that's deadly. The bullying escalates over the semester, until there is a serious attack in the boys locker room. The next day Cameron snaps and kills someone. Phillips build up to Cameron's break down is gradual and believable. Burn is Young Adult novel though I think its appropriate for somoeone as young as 11 yrs old. It would make an excellent book club book, touching on many important issues.
Time to share

Cameron holds the lighter under the balled up paper towel. The fire doesn't spread fast, like Cameron wants it to, needs it to. The paper is wet. It smokes but doesn't flame. A dud like he is, only there's a lot more potential with fire than there is with a guy who's afraid to bend over to tie his shoe, afraid to bend over to tie his shoe, afraid he'll be like a duck with his head underwater.

Cameron feels every one of Patterson's knuckles in the soft part of his stomach, below the arch of his ribs. The breath shoots out of his lungs, his heart stops, then kicks against his chest. His body tries to curl over itself

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