Young man Sam's adventures.
920337
I enjoyed it, even though I sustained many interruptions through the course of reading it. I'm so glad we've inherited these wonderful curious stories.
3205324
Good tale of a young man chasing his dreams and encountering all sorts of mayhem and hilarity along the way.  Worth a read for all wrestling fans and even anyone who wants to know how to go after what they want in life.
2164279
Ethan is a 17 year old who is constantly mistaken for a 12 or 13 year old. It doesn't do much for his ego, which is already bruised by his tall, strong, seemingly infallible athletic father. His father is obviously disappointed in his small, insecure son who can shake uncontrollably over the least thing. The adventure unfolds when Ethan is forced to stay with his father for the summer in a mountainous region, known to have bears, coyotes and wolves. There are also the occasional visitors who hire his neighbor Sam to take them on a mule train, camping trip through the vast wilderness.
Ethan can't imagine anything less enjoyable. Until there is a life and death situation only he and his neighbors can solve, Ethan discovers he has strength and perseverance beyond his years. An exciting, in depth look into the hearts and minds of a broken family, some rugged mountain folk, and the adventure of a lifetime for Ethan.
3075585
Enertaining, often hillarious, story about a young man's insecurities in love and life.
4238309
Kyle from the city gets charged with vandalism once too often and his lawyer cuts him a deal.  He's to go to work on a farm in a community service project.  He's just been marking time until he can get away from home and go to art college, but now he is made to feel part of the farm family and his life changes.

The descriptions of milking the hundred head of cows, picking ripe tomatoes and beans and other farm work are great, with everything a revelation for Kyle, especially the way that natural food tastes! Then Sam the farm son comes home from college, and he's the best looking guy Kyle ever saw, and an easy guy to be friends with.  But Kyle can't admit that he's probably gay, because he's been beaten up more than once for just looking, and his stepfather has been very clear on the subject.

Young people everywhere should enjoy this tale and take from it the understanding that youngsters need safety in their lives, and need to be able to express themselves.
2646038
This is no classic, but I enjoyed the classic story of a young man coming of age. I'm also a bit curious to learn more about the magic being used and how it will develop for the main character. I will probably pick up the next volume when it becomes available.
3619154
Alex and Brett Harris are two teenagers seeking to stir a generation of youth out of complacency.

A few years ago, they began a website called "The Rebelution" intended to challenge teenagers to rebel against the low expectations for youth in American society. Their book, Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations (Multnomah, 2008) challenges young people to reclaim their teenage years by applying themselves to significant challenges.

The rebellion advocated in this book is not directed to parents or youth leaders. Instead, it is a rebellion against the general perception of teenagers in America today. The Harris brothers do not believe teens should waste their youth on parties and games. Instead, teens should apply themselves to substantive tasks during their youth. The teenage years are not a holding tank between childhood and adulthood. They are a launching pad for the rest of life.

The Harris brothers make their case by pointing out how the idea of "teenager" has not always been around. For thousands of years, the transition from child to adult took place quickly during the early teen years. Today, the period of adolescence has led to a society that expects very little from teens. Society (and the church) caters to young people, expecting little to nothing in return.

The Harris brothers encourage teenagers to do five different kinds of hard things:

Things that take you out of your comfort zone.
Things that go beyond what is expected or required.
Things that are too big for you to do alone.
Things that do not pay off immediately.
Things that go against the crowd.
The best part of Do Hard Things is the inclusion of illustrations that demonstrate the possibility of doing hard things during the time of adolescence. Many teens are doing significant things, and these stories are told in the book.

I can relate to Alex and Brett. My parents did not let me or my siblings waste our teenage years. They encouraged us to be involved in activities and ministries that they knew would form our character. My father hired me at the family-run print shop as an Office Manager when I was just 16. People wondered, "Isn't he a little young?" Dad didn't pay attention to my age. He believed I could do well. He set the bar high, and then he told me he was proud when I rose to tthe challenge.

A few years later, God led me to become a missionary to Romania. Some people think that my purchase of a one-way ticket to Romania at the age of 19 was hard. Perhaps, for some. But the high expectations I had grown up with made that purchase not seem so hard after all.

I hope Alex and Brett's book and website will start a movement. We need to be challenged. Parents need to raise the bar for their teenagers. Teens need to make the best of their youth. Do Hard Things is a start in the right direction.
1126952
The riding scenes are awesome. It is great for a young rider to get motivated to get better. The story is sweet.
4547625
An enjoyable romp with a puppy named Sam as he lives his first year of life. I could completely understand the adoring relationship between Sam and his Mum, having had a similar attachment to my furry companion Ralph E. Boy.  Sam reminded me of Ralphie, not by breed but by his sweet nature and loving personality.  Highly recommend Sam's Story.
2064556
Cornelius is a special boy with a big dream.  He wants to go out west but feels trapped in the dirty slums of New York City.  He does his best to please his aunt and uncle who took him in, but he overheard his stressed aunt say he was an extra mouth to feed.  He follows his dream on a dangerous journey.  With faith and circumstance, he finds a new place he could call home.  But will it be what he has been dreaming about or will it be a huge disappointment?  This book is ideal for young adults, especially those who are interested in the types of stories that highlight good characters that deal with their challenges without the overly mature content that is found in other books in this time period.  It is almost comparable to a setting like in the Little House on the Prairie series, but it is a better Western genre for reluctant male readers.  I can't tell if the story of Cornelius in the West continues, but it would be nice to read if it does.
2399585
I like how it shows the true life of struggling to just be a teenager. He did manage to keep me engaged the entire time without getting bored or lost. I just wish the was more of a plot then him just living his life. I to totally ship him and Sam though. recommend this to any teenagers who feel like an outcast.
4061015
The story follows a thirteen year old boy as he travels from his birth home to foster home to two homes run by social services.  The problems he faces, the friendships he forms, his slow maturation with the help of his case worker, the workers at a probation home, and the older boys in the home are all imaginatively drawn.  Good story for both young teens and adults.
3381596
I like how Sam made a house in a tree and got a falcon from her nest as a baby and named her Frightful.

I like how Sam was independent, how he went to a mountain and how he learned when it was hunting season to track the shot deer from the top of a tree and take the deer if the hunters went away and couldn't find it.

I also like how he made his own deerskin clothing, rabbit fur underwear, and his own furniture.

I recommend this book for kids who like stories (fiction) about nature and about kids being independent.
3990737
Wes Anderson's best films seem to be about young people, rather than the neurotic adults for which he became famous, and "Moonrise Kingdom" is his most youthful effort yet. It takes place during the summer of1965, on a sparsely populated island somewhere in New England. Twelve-year-old Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) has resigned his commission and gone AWOL with a miniature canoe and some supplies from a Khaki Scout camp under the command of Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton). The local authority, police Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis), goes looking for Sam only to discover that Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward) is also missing from her parents' home. The young couple have apparently run off together, just as a hurricane works its way up the coast.

Sam and Suzy have a hard time getting along with people, but they see themselves in each other and hit it off right away. In spite of their frustrations, they're full of youthful optimism and a yearning for adventure. And they go out and have that adventure, leaving the adults to worry and search frantically for them. These two young actors are very appealing, and their antics, however eyebrow-raising are sympathetic and funny. The adults are also sympathetic, if a bit disengaged from life until this incident galvanizes them. -With the exception of a woman representing social services (Tilda Swinton), who wants to have Sam committed. She seems to represent the menace of the mainland, where people do things differently than on the friendly, laid back island.

I love the period touches -Suzy's minidresses and blue eye shadow, record player, and less neurotic, simpler, dispositions in general. But "Moonrise Kingdom" is not a period film. Anderson uses 1960s motifs when it suits him and anachronisms just as easily. Sam and Suzy are more romantically sophisticated than sheltered middle class kids were before the internet. Suzy's parents are both lawyers, which leaves me to wonder who takes care of her three little brothers if her mother works long hours. There were not many female lawyers in the 1960s, much less with young children. The couple is also old to have children that age by the standards of their generation. It's Wes Anderson's whimsical universe, not 1960s America.
1247649
This is an amazing story of a very motivated young man who is focused and determined in his efforts to climb mountains.  It reinforces all the positive things we keep saying to our kids about the payoff when they set their minds to doing something. It is an engaging story that my son loved, and from which he, hopefully, absorbed some of the lessons about focus, persistence, and self motivation that I'd like him to know.
3554167
Excellent story of a young person struggling to find his place in the world.

I think teenagers would find this story very relevant.
3255944
Author Sam Sundance is 16 years old in 1968 when he convinces his parents to let him spend a month at a Youth Hostel on the Italian Riviera. In exchange for their permission, he agrees to return home, and spend the rest of the summer studying for exams in the fall. Sam does not intend to return home now that he's "escaped" his parent's prison. His plan is to be a long-haired hippy, hitchhiking around Italy.  After not calling his parents for a few weeks, the police arrest him, after being gone for three months. Threatened with being sent to a juvenile detention center, his parents force him to go to a technical institute, where he participates in the student protests. The next summer he convinces his parents to allow him to travel again, despite failing four subjects. Eventually traveling to Amsterdam, he experiments with LSD, among other drugs.

Sam spends over forty years traveling all around the world, and the descriptive way he tells the story of his life is fantastic! He spends time in prison, meets some outrageously wild people, and has experiences the average person can't even imagine.

Growing up in the early 70s, I can relate to his story. Although my experiences were tame compared to his, I did hitchhike across the country a few times and experimented with drugs. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is too young to have been part of the "freak" movement; the story is amazing! If you were part of the experience, you will love this book as a reminder of the wild times!