Out of Order

by A.M. Jenkins

Book Overview

Baseball. I'm very good at baseball. Baseball is the only part of my life I have any control over. Baseball is the only reason I'm still in school. Problem: I'm not out on the field. I'm in here. There's no way you can think about baseball when your body's trapped in a hard chair in a quiet room, and you can't move at all. When you can't feel the shock of the bat running up your arm into your shoulder. When you can't feel the whump of the ball in...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0066239680
• ISBN13: 9780066239682
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: Harperteen
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.0" x 7.1"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

for reluctant teen male readers

Although I own 5 copies of this book, I haven't read it yet. Why? Because the boys in my 9th grade English class keep it checked out of my classroom constantly. As soon as a boy returns a copy, the next young man on the waiting list checks it out. I have never seen teenage boys respond to a book like this. Back in August when school started, I only had one copy, but I have purchased 4 additional copies since then. During SSR time, a boy started reading it because I insisted he read something. He would have preferred to put his head down on his desk - absolutely not allowed. He said, "But, Miss, I HATE to read!" I told him that's OK, just stare at the book until the bell rings. That way if the principal had dropped in to make sure we were doing SSR, I wouldn't get in trouble. When the bell rang 15 minutes later, the young man begged me to let take the book home to finish it. He returned it the next morning and started to recommend it to others. Not one boy has yet to read the first 2 pages and not finish the book. Most of my students have read the book in no more than 2 days. Some said that they stayed up all night to finish it because it was so good. No female students have expressed any interest in the book...maybe because the cover has a picture of a baseball on it. As far as I'm concerned, this book works magic on boys. Every boy who has read it in my classes has gone on to read several more books. What more could a teacher ask for? (FYI - My school is in a low socio-economic area, high poverty rate, almost every student is on free/reduced lunch, gang related crime, urban area, etc.)

Out of Order

I absolutely loved this book. It was your everyday life as a teenager in your typical high school. It includes all of the negative things that go on in high school too, so that makes the book a little restrictive for kids younger than 8th grade. But I still liked it. It covered everything from relationships to falling into peer pressure to constantly harassing people. Colt, the main character, is very rude, and really sucks at school work. He is really only good at baseball. But that makes him a bully to everyone around him that he considers, "lower than him". But as he starts to get a taste of what he's been dealing out to everyone when a new girl moves to their school and doesn't take any crap from him. She just sends it right back his way. What made the book so good was when he finally realized how mean he really was to everyone, and he matures. It is kind of eye opening though, because I know there are probably people like that in my school, and I realized that the situations in this book really do happen. But I give you this warning... there are many cuss words, and bad conversations. But it makes up for all of that in the end, I think.

OUT OF ORDER is a realistic book.

Colt Trammel is trying to make sense of his high school world. His classes are like gibberish, his girlfriend Grace freaks after he tells her he loves her, and his lab partner is a new girl with green hair, for Pete's sake. The only time Colt knows what's going on is when he's playing baseball. A.M. Jenkins is a master at drawing readers right into the characters. Colt is not a simple jock stereotype. His love for Grace makes him vulnerable, and the failures he experiences in his classes make him feel perpetually stupid. Colt's struggle with the romantic poets from his English class becomes crucial when his grades drop below what is acceptable for playing athletes. He finds a tutor in Chloe, formerly of the green hair. Jenkins writes their tutoring sessions with humor. Anyone who has struggled to understand classic poems will especially enjoy these parts of the books. It is also nice to see in a book the boy's side of a painful dating relationship. Readers will sympathize with this supposed tough guy as he pines for Grace, who doesn't treat him well. Jenkins gives us a three-dimensional character in Colt, who is likable despite some bad choices that will have the reader cringing. OUT OF ORDER is a realistic book, and readers will want to see more of what happens to Colt. --- Reviewed by Amy Alessio

I WOULD GIVE THIS BOOK 10 STARS OUT OF 5

The acclaimed author of the novel, DAMAGE, has done it again with the new novel, OUT OF ORDER. A.M.Jenkins tells the frustration of Colt Trammel's life. Colt who claims baseball and the girl he's been in love with since the seventh grade are the only reasons he's still in school. Then everything hits the fan for Colt. His girlfriend dumped him (sadly again) and his Mom won't let him play baseball if he can't raise his GPA to at least a C. Jenkins tells the next six weeks in Colt's life in an amazingly realistic way. Jenkins does it with such suspense, drama and detail that she keeps you on the edge of your seat and not wanting to put it down. The book is an easy but exciting read. The book has 247 pages and I finished it in 3 1/2 hours. The book would be rated R because it is filled with the thoughts that run through a typical horny teenage boy's mind. I would give this book 10 STARS OUT OF 5. It's a must read for anyone 12 and up. My English teacher read this book and had the same response I did, FANTASTIC. This is a great book. I could easily relate to Colt's frustrations, This is a MUST READ!!!!!!

Beautifully crafted portrait of a boy in trouble

A. M. Jenkins, author of the highly regarded DAMAGE, is known for depicting the world of today's young adults with unflinching honesty. But more than that, her writing conveys her genuine affection and caring for her subject. In Colt Trammel, Jenkins has created her most memorable character yet. On the outside, Colt is popular, athletic, smart-mouthed, always on top. On the inside, he is desperately in love with Grace and struggles to cover up a learning disability. But he's beginning to lose both Grace and his battle to hide his disability when "Chlo," a green-haired girl who can see right through him enters his life. Jenkins never descends into sentimentality in her portrait of Colt. Similarly, his faults and his failings are drawn without judgment. Colt's voice is clear and compelling without being too self-aware. A worthy successor to the author's previous works.