Harley (Like a Person)

by Cat Bauer

Book Overview

Fourteen-year-old Harley Columba is convinced she's adopted. She's nothing like her abusive, alcoholic father or her bitter, romance novel-reading mother. They have brown eyes, but Harley's eyes are... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1890817481
• ISBN13: 9781890817480
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Winslowhouse International
• Length: 250 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.7" x 8.6"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

Difficulties you might face

I had to pick a book for an assignment in L.A.. I didn't know which book to choose. Then, Harley like a person got my attention. I was looking at the cover wondering what it meant. I checked the book out of the library and started to read on my bed. When I opened the book, the first sentence caught my eyes. I'm under the bed. The first chapter didn't seem normal to me. The setting started off in her house, under the bed, hiding from her parents. She's got a drunken father, yelling mother, and her siblings. Then she gets into all sorts of troubles you can think of. Her first boyfriend was just playing with her, and then the second one was on drugs. She's got the problems that you'll never be able to think of that will happen in your teenage years. Maybe... I hope so... This book has the feelings that teenagers have and the problems that we keep it as secrets. It was like Bauer actually knows what we want! The conflict happens between Harley and her teachers, friends, and her parents. Even her best friend thinks she's crazy; and later she's failing classes. This might actually happen in life and it's not just a story. There can be problems with your friends and teachers. Her only way of escaping those troubles is to draw. (Me too) I found this in common. She likes to listen to Beatles, unlike normal teenagers do. She's got a heart that no other teenagers might. She's faced difficulties that the teenagers usually don't. Maybe that's why this book is so special. You MIGHT get into one of those. Everyone might have had this question. "Am I adopted?!" I did. Well, Harley wasn't adopted but she was always thinking she was adopted. Then she finds out that her dad isn't her real dad and she's got the talent from her real dad. My favorite part of the book is the ending, when and her parents get to understand her. They all sit in a row watching the play and her drawing of Anastasia. That's my favorite part of this book. I haven't actually read her other books yet, but I'm looking forward to it. It is the best book I have read so far this year. Especially if you're a struggling teenager or a person like me who's getting ready for high school should read this. It has what the teenagers think about what's going on in high school life, and what's the problem that they usually have.

What an awesome book!

It's truly hard to believe that this was Cat Bauers first book! I read this a few months after one of my friends had read it, and absolutley loved it. It was the kind of book that made you laugh and cry, and sometimes even relate to. Harley's life spirals out of control as she searches for her own identity. On her downwards fall she loses her best friend, but gains another, when she begins a new relationship with a boy. This ends up getting her into a lot of trouble with her cruel and dysfunctional parents, and Harley rebels. Will her life get any better, or will it continue its downward climb untill its too much to bare?

Harley Like a Person review

Harley like a person, by Cat Bauer, was an entertaining book filled with suspense and emotion. Harley Columba lives with her strict, sneaky mother, drunk, violent father, younger brother Bean, and younger sister Lilly. Her school life for the most part in normal, but her home life is not. Harley constantly hides from her drunk father, and feels the only way to escape her family problem is by painting. Harley loves to paint. Through her life, Harley was sure that the two crazy people, said to be her parents, weren't, and that she was adopted. Harley starts to investigate and finds a doll that leads to the truth about her past. As the Columba family gets worse and worse, Harley wants anything to get away from them. She slowly falls into the wrong crowd. Before she knows it Harley is going to parties, getting drunk, and smoking pot. The one thing in life that Harley loved, the painting for the school drama club, is taken away, and she feels her life is ruined. Harley takes a bus from the quiet suburbia Lenape Lakes to wild New York City, in search of the truth about her father. Though her journey is short, she finds all she needs, and though frightened, returns to the Columba home. Harley Like a person, by Cat Bauer was an excellent book. I would recommend it to everyone who wishes to experience the fun, suspense, and excitement that I did.

12 Yr. Olds Fave.

I just finished reading Harley, Like a person. Its sitting in front of me right now. I am trying hard not to start it all over again. This is deffinetly an amazing story, it has changed me in so many ways. I am not usually the type of person that reads alot and when i tryed yo describe the book to my freinds they were amazed i enjoyed it. The only thing i could say was "Its the perfect book for an English class becuase it has all those strange symbolic metaphoric hidden messages, such as the painting she does for the school play, represents her." READ THIS BOOK!

Harley will win you over!

Harley like a person, by Cat Bauer, was the most amazing book i have ever read. Because i am a teenager, I could relate most of her feelings to mine. And when literature can give so much insight and give off a feeling to the reader, it truly is a magical book, which can help thousands of teenagers all over the world. Harley's daring but sweet personality creates a world around the imagination, and facinating events engulf and incorperate every emotion that is in a teenage body. This book deals with drugs, sex, drinking, privacy, untruth, and the trials in which a teenage girl deals with. Harley struggles with her family in a quest to find her true parents, and on that pathway, she comes across her true identity, and who she really wants to be...