Synopsis: "You know those "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" essays teachers always give students as a new school year begins? Well, Jason Merlo finally has something to write about. He went motocrossing.
Starting out in the novice class for newcomers, Jason shows how serious he is about racing. With
the help of two new racing buds he learns what it takes to go fast in this brutally demanding sport. He also proves that hard work pays off, as he gets faster almost every race.
Soon he's running neck and neck against the fastest guys in his class, "guys" turning out to be a much more general term than he originally thought. His success on his Honda motocrosser goes beyond what he'd even hoped for. Yet as obsessed as Jason is with motocross, it's a new
friendship with an old flat-track racer that gives him his biggest thrill - and surprise - of the
summer."
My Review: I picked this book up at a local RI Author event to support my local authors and to build up Munchkin's library. I thought this would be more of a middle grade book based on the length, but the characters are senior's in high school, with that said middle grade readers would still be able to really enjoy the book. I grew up in a place where motocrossing was pretty popular and several classmates even competed but even with that experience I still learned a lot more about the sport. I would caution parents because by the end of this book your young reader may be asking for a bike! I like that the book is geared more towards male readers but there are also female riders in the book so girls may also enjoy this book. It was a thrilling and adventure filled book that also has some great life lessons to take away from it.
Starting out in the novice class for newcomers, Jason shows how serious he is about racing. With
the help of two new racing buds he learns what it takes to go fast in this brutally demanding sport. He also proves that hard work pays off, as he gets faster almost every race.
Soon he's running neck and neck against the fastest guys in his class, "guys" turning out to be a much more general term than he originally thought. His success on his Honda motocrosser goes beyond what he'd even hoped for. Yet as obsessed as Jason is with motocross, it's a new
friendship with an old flat-track racer that gives him his biggest thrill - and surprise - of the
summer."
My Review: I picked this book up at a local RI Author event to support my local authors and to build up Munchkin's library. I thought this would be more of a middle grade book based on the length, but the characters are senior's in high school, with that said middle grade readers would still be able to really enjoy the book. I grew up in a place where motocrossing was pretty popular and several classmates even competed but even with that experience I still learned a lot more about the sport. I would caution parents because by the end of this book your young reader may be asking for a bike! I like that the book is geared more towards male readers but there are also female riders in the book so girls may also enjoy this book. It was a thrilling and adventure filled book that also has some great life lessons to take away from it.
My Rating: I really enjoyed this one, even more than I expected and while it is geared more towards boys, girls will also enjoy it. I think Munchkin will have fun with this book someday, and I already know a few more reluctant young readers who may just latch on to books after this one. I give it a rating of Four Paws!
Note: I did have the opportunity to discuss the book with the author after reading it and he made a few good points to me. One of them was the fact that he wrote up in age for kids because they don't want to read down and as it is written so that a wide range of young readers, both reluctant and experienced bookworms, could enjoy it. There are also two other books in this series so far but they can be read in any order and as stand alones and all are currently geared towards racing things with motors ;)
I had the pleasure of meeting Thom Ring at the local RI Author Expo but you can find out more about him and his books on his Goodreads Page or Website.
You can obtain your own copy of Motocross Summer in digital or print format from Amazon or you can get each book or the whole series (even personalized for that perfect gift) from Thom's Website or ask your local book supplier to order it.
Cool that younger kids can read it even though it's about seniors in high school.
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