Contender » (Reissue)

Robert Lipsyte is an award-winning sportswriter for The New York Times and USA Today and is the author of a number of acclaimed books, including The Contender and Raiders Night. He is also the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award honoring the whole of his contribution to literature for young readers. He lives in New York.

Alfred Brooks is scared. He's a highschool 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.

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.