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    Knockout
    Knockout
    Knockout
    Ebook295 pages1 hour

    Knockout

    By K.A. Holt

    4.5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Levi just wants to be treated like a typical kid. As a baby, he had a serious disease that caused him respiratory issues. He's fine now, but his mom and overprotective brother still think of him as damaged, and his schoolmates see him as the same class clown he's always been. He feels stuck. So when his dad—divorced from his mom—suggests he take up boxing, he falls in love with the sport. And when he finds out about a school with a killer boxing team and a free-study curriculum, it feels like he's found a ticket to a new Levi. But how can he tell his mom about boxing? And how can he convince his family to set him free?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChronicle Books Digital
    Release dateMar 6, 2018
    ISBN9781452163673
    Knockout
    Author

    K.A. Holt

    Kari Anne Holt is the author of Gnome-a-geddon, which received a starred review from Booklist, and Red Moon Rising, which Booklist said “will lasso readers and have them hoping for a sequel.” She has also written several middle grade novels in verse including Rhyme Schemer and Brains for Lunch, which received a starred review in Publishers Weekly and was highlighted on the Texas Library Association’s Annotated Lone Star Reading List, and Mike Stellar: Nerves of Steel, a nominee for the Connecticut Library Association Nutmeg Book Award and the Maud Hart Lovelace Award. Kari has recently contributed to the anthology, Dear Teen Me: Authors Write Letters To Their Teen Selves. Learn more about her at KAHolt.com.

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    Reviews for Knockout

    4.5/5

    9 ratings10 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Much 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.
    • 4/5
      This 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.
    • 5/5
      *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.
    • 4/5
      (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.
    • 4/5
      Simply 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.
    • 3/5
      Great 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!
    • 4/5
      Written 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.
    • 4/5
      K.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!
    • 5/5
      I 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.
    • 4/5
      I'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

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