|
The Power of One (Young Reader's Edition) | 
 enlarge | Author: Bryce Courtenay
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $7.62
You Save: $8.33 (52%)
New (8) Used (12) from $3.65
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 395549
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.1
ISBN: 0385732546
EAN: 9780385732543
ASIN: 0385732546
Publication Date: September 13, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: 5 STAR CUSTOMER SERVICE! GREAT BOOKS, GREAT PRICES!
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
In 1939, hatred took root in South Africa, where the seeds of apartheid were newly sown. There a boy called Peekay was born. He spoke the wrong language–English. He was nursed by a woman of the wrong color–black. His childhood was marked by humiliation and abandonment. Yet he vowed to survive–he would become welterweight champion of the world, he would dream heroic dreams.
But his dreams were nothing compared to what awaited him. For he embarked on an epic journey, where he would learn the power of words, the power to transform lives, and the mystical power that would sustain him even when it appeared that villainy would rule the world: The Power of One.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 "First with the Head and Then With the Heart..." November 8, 2006
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
There are two versions of Bryce Courtney's "The Power of One"; the original version and this, the junior novelisation. The two are quite different so make sure that you double-check what publication you're getting before you order. I would suggest the older version for most readers, since this basically tells the same story in simplified form. However, in Australia and New Zealand, "The Power of One" has reached almost cult-status in terms of popularity, and some younger readers will leap at the chance to familiarise themselves with the story before they are ready to tackle the more complex and violent subject matter of the original. Furthermore, it is a perfect choice for school libraries and/or compulsory reading in classrooms.
Like the adult version, the junior novelisation is concerned with the life of Peekay, a young boy living in 1930's South Africa, coping with racism, tension between the various social groups of the time (the Boers, the English and the Africans) and the growing threat of World War II. This younger version begins in the same place as the adult one, with Peekay being sent to a boarding school in which he is urinated on by his fellow students - a clear sign that Courtney is not prepared to soften the harshness and cruelty of the original book for the benefit of a younger audience. In comparison this story ends after the famous concert at the prison, the moment in which the adult novel really begins.
The junior novel follows Peekay's journey from childhood into earlier adolescence and the beginnings of the adult world, told in significantly less detail and in more simplified language than the first "Power of One". On the way, he makes friends from every race and class, learning the most important truth of his life: to think with his head and then with his heart. In particular, he finds work in a jail, inventing an ingenious way to help the convicts communicate with their families on the outside, and discovers the sport of boxing along with the remarkable idea that you do not have to be the biggest in order to be the best.
Courtney's gift comes from finding the grey areas in each situation, showing us clearly that one race, one country, one ideology is never wholly righteous; goodness can only come from an individual. Near the beginning of the book Peekay is persecuted by Nazi-supporters; later a dear friend of his unfairly is jailed for being a German. Humanity's overwhelming desire to classify and then judge people based on these classifications is never more frustrating than it is here, and it is a lesson well worth learning.
Although this is a more-than-adequate introductory book for younger readers eager to tackle "The Power of One", I would recommend to anyone else over the age of twelve (or any confident reader under that age) that they simply pick up the first (and best) adult version.
 growing strong February 25, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
how you can feel with a little boy's hardship in a boarding school and how you hope for his stamina and how you love his intense friendships that bring him on his way.
You really live with that life and that is best a book can do.
A powerful story of courage and change January 14, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
If Bryce Courtenay's The Power Of One sounds familiar, it's because this represents a young reader's condensed edition of a prior hard-hitter which became both an adult classic and an acclaimed movie of the same name. It's great to see such a powerful novel condensed with youth in mind: grades 8-12 will find compelling the story of 1930s South Africa and a boy who faces apartheid and prejudice in a country where his childhood is marked by loneliness and dreams of changing lives. A powerful story of courage and change evolves.
 Great Novel - but CONDENSED January 7, 2006
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have read the Power of One, the unedited version and it is brilliant, inspiring, and brutal - one of the best books I've read. However, this edition that is being sold here, is the Young Reader's edition, which isn't immediately obvious from Amazon's description or the picture. It does say so on the cover, but it's very small unless you enlarge the picture. So, my review gives it a 2 as it may be an unpleasant surprise for those who want to read the actual novel.
A Masterpiece December 23, 2005
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I read this book before the crap movie was ever released, and it's a good thing, too. Whoever says the novel is dead needs to take a look at this. Courtenay has written a brilliant bildungsroman that you literally can't put down. You might even end up re-reading certain passages over and over, such as the boxing match between the protagonist and a Goliath-like opponent. If you have a bright pre-teen, give him this, and I bet he'll enjoy it.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
