If Rock and Roll Were a Machine

by Terry Davis

Book Overview

New York Times bestselling author Terry Davis offers the critically acclaimed "powerful story about a teenager's search for self-esteem" ( Booklist , starred review). When an elementary school teacher's criticisms turn Bert Bowden from a bright, popular boy into a self-conscious, awkward one, everyone is shocked. Bert is determined to regain his old confidence and become somebody great, but will he be able to overcome the silence of adolescent solitude?...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1481456326
• ISBN13: 9781481456326
• Release Date: December 2015
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 13 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 8 to 12

Customer Reviews

Battling Childhood Demons

When Bert was young, he remembers being very smart and not afraid to show what he knew. He was bursting with confidence and happiness. Then he spent two years, fifth and sixth grade, with Mr. Lawler as his teacher. Lawler seemed to really have it in for Bert, and he encouraged the entire class to help Bert to "change his ways." Bert was subjected to two straight years of public humiliation, which left him very quiet, with a stutter and nearly no self-confidence. Now Bert is a junior in high school and is cut from the football team. He needs to find something else on which to focus his attention. He decides to buy a motorcycle. Buying the motorcycle introduces Bert to a whole new group of people, who are able to help him on his way to rediscovering who he is. The most important is Scott Shepard, the man who sells him the bike and then gives Bert a job in his motorcycle shop. He sees something special in Bert and is determined to help Bert himself discover what that something is. Eventually Scott may help Bert to face his biggest demon--Mr. Lawler himself, still the same after all these years. I liked the Shepard family. They were a very tight-knit group but at the same time they were so open to include a guy like Bert. I also liked Bert's English teacher and his sensitivity. Bert needed some sort of support system. Much of the time, Bert seemed to just float through his life, and his parents were almost nonexistent after their first fight about the motorcycle. I would have thought they would play at least some role in his life.

Enduring Tale

I first this book when it was first published, and I was in the 8th grade. I remember it b/c I rated it an 8 out of 10 in my reading journal for school. Ten years later, I've reread that book so many times that my copy is dogeared. "If I changed once for the worse, I can change again for the better." These words are Bert Bowden's new mantra as he faces old demons and struggles to define himself. Davis' language is poetic, full of colorful phrases and thoughtful prose. I'd recommend all of his books, but this is the one that touched my heart.

NO MOUSER

Davis does for raquetball what he did for wrestling in VISION QUEST. The raquetball court becomes the three dimensional metaphor for the complex obstacle that Bert Bowden must overcome if he is to get on with his life. Well-paced, with language that soars at times, IF ROCK N ROLL... places Davis in the upper echelon of adolescent fiction writers. The central images, the sleek powerful motorcycles, a child's terror and the athlete's development are so well-drawn that they will not let go of you easily.