This is the Tiger Awards.
We are currently judging. No more contestants can join.
It's a shame I couldn't have more. Maybe next year I'll do something better.
This is for the judges. In order for you to understand how to judge the books I'm going to do a practice review for a book I've already read. Can't believe it's taken me this long to come up with this idea – this is the perfect way to teach you.
Here's my review of "The Outsiders" by S. E. Hinton.
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The blurb:
Youngsters in a small Oklahoma town have split into two gangs, divided by money, tastes and attitude. The Socs' idea of having a good time is beating up Greasers like Ponyboy Curtis. Ponyboy knows what to expect and knows he can count on his brothers and friends - until the night someone takes things too far.
Title/Cover: 4/5
Blurb: 3/5
Characters: 8/10
Plot: 7/10
Writing Style: 9/10
Total: 32/40
The title is not the best but it does represent the characters in the story. Plus, I adore the style of the font. The blurb is straightforward and gives us the struggle of the characters but it doesn't exactly pull me in (I'll admit then when I was forced to read this book for school, I wasn't excited about getting into it.)
Now here's where it gets juicier though. The characters in this book are just golden. Ponyboy is an excellent narrator and a great friend. And Johnny is best boy. Even though the whole story is told through him we get a good idea of what all the characters are thinking and feeling. The writing style is fluid and sounds natural. It's a quick book to get through.
Since I need to criticise, I'll say that the plot for this book isn't the best and there's a plot hole in the middle regarding the hospital. They let Ponyboy go when he definitely wasn't ready. But as you can see the plot is only slightly worse than the characters and you know how I feel about them.
Here's some good quotes:
"It wasn't just that they had beaten him half to death – he could take that. They had scared him. They had threatened him with everything under the sun."
"I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me."
