Hold Up

Hold Up

By Terri Fields

176p

Roaring Brook Press

ISBN-10: 1596432195
ISBN-13: 978-1596432192

Annotation:

Diverse teens each react differently to a shift at the Burger Heaven on a busy Saturday night that culminates in a showdown with two armed robbers.

Summary:

What determines a person's character, is it the behavior or how how they act in a moment of panic? This is the question teens must ask themselves as they open the pages to Terri Fields "Hold Up".

Told through the perspectives of nine different people, this novel portrays how we are all different yet in some ways still the same. Set against the backdrop of a robbery gone wrong. This poignant narrative of life and how the decisions one makes can have a startling affect on them for years to come. In this novel we are introduced to the characters in journal type submissions, some of these characters are cliché such as Jordan an overachiever who does what she is expected to do, even when she doesn’t want to, while some are very interesting and easy to relate to such as Manuel an impoverish yet intelligent boy who needs goading by a retired teacher to even think about going to college or Joe a boy described as “white-wall” by his classmates, who get mixed up with the wrong people all in the attempt to impress a girl.

Each character’s entries allow us to become more and more familiar with them and their individual needs and desires, leading up to the robbery. Everything changes once the gun is pulled.

Teens will enjoy this short young adult novel if only for the nonstop action and the suspenseful climax. This is novel can lend itself to an open discussion on the ideas of perception and how teens view themselves and others, perfect for teachers in search of an edgier novel for that reluctant reader.