Tex

Book Title: Tex      Author: S.E Hinton     
Pages: 211    Publisher: Dell Laurel-Leaf     
Why did you decide to read the book? I've had this book since seventh grade and never decided to read it, so then when I started running out of options for Outside Reading books I decided to read this one. I also loved the book “The Outsiders” by the same author so I figured this would be just as good.
     
Brief Summary of Book (6-8 sentences): Tex is a novel about two brothers who live in a small little house in the country. Texas (Tex) loves to ride horses and thinks of his horse Negrito as his best friend and would prefer riding that any day over a motorcycle like his friends do. He is fourteen years old, and his brother Mason (Mace) is a senior basketball athlete. Their mom died a couple years ago and their dad is always away for months at a time One day when Tex comes home after school to ride his horse, he finds that both him and his brother's horses are gone. Mace had sold them so that they would have enough money to buy food for the winter. This major conflict in the book results in a huge fight between the brothers, but once Tex runs away to the city for a while, he comes to realize that living with his brother isn't so bad after all.
Audience: I would say that the audience would be for eight graders and up because in sixth or seventh grade most middle school students are required to read “The Outsiders” also by S.E Hinton, so this book is good to read after that.                                                                                 
Writing Style: S.E Hinton's writing style is very casual with slang words.
Description - It is very casual because it's an easy read book with hardly any complex words. This book is about a 14 and 18 year old, so in the dialog there are definitely words that you would hear in a typical teenager's conversation. Being a teenager it makes this book more enjoyable to read since it's a style that stands out to me.
Passage - “ 'Well you're real brave, real stupid, or real lucky,' said the cop.”
Vocabulary:
Word 1.Staggered. 2. Savagely       Definition 1. To move or stand unsteadily. 2. Not domesticated; wild.     
Sentence & page it came from      1. “He staggered, but didn't fall down, swung me around and let go, throwing me halfway across the yard.” (55) 2. “ 'I am poking my nose in because I don't want to see you get expelled,' he said savagely.” (176)
Passage #1: “Mason just sat there, holding his arm, panting. When I was sure he had quit the fight, I turned over and lay face down, my head resting on my arm. I was hurting real bad. All my energy was gone. I think if the house has been on fire I wouldn't have had the strength to leave.” (15) This scene happens right once Tex finds that not only his horse, but his best friend that he thought of as a human was gone, he completely flips out on his brother Mace. He wanted to kill his brother, I think he cared more about his horse than he did his brother that day.
Passage #2: “When I'm eighteen or nineteen an scared of the way things are changing, the way people are going off in different direction, and the simple life looks romantic, a good way to keep everything the same…yeah, I can see me marrying you. It'd last about a year.” (159) This is a typical point of view from an eighth grader who is just experiencing love and is already thinking about getting married. Jamie wanted to be serious about this relationship, but quickly Tex shuts her down by saying it would only last about a year.
Theme: I would say the theme of this book is to accept people for who they are. Tex realizes throughout this novel that the obstacles in his life lead him to understating of Jamie, Pop, Johnny, Cole and even Mason.      
                         
Letter Grade: I would rate this book as a B. I think the beginning could have grabbed the readers' attention better because it kind of drags on at first. I didn't really want to read it until the middle when it actually started to get good.