Remembering the Good Times

Reader reviewed by Brandon R

The book Remembering the Good Times was a boring book at times. But some times it became an exciting book. The book is written well in some parts but in other parts its not. The book is a story about a teenage suicide. Most of the characters were good but Polly was far the best character out of all of them. What made her the beast was that they told how she acted throughout the story. They said that she acted like a mean grouchy lady. Travis was a quite boy who had a lot of collectibles in his room.
The beginning of the book was pretty good setting and every thing was alright in the beginning. The middle of the book was alright but not descriptive enough and really didnt tell much like it didnt give you an idea that was going to happen later. The ending of the book was a really exciting book. But it was kind of like the middle part of the book. It was pretty descriptive but it did not do very good foreshadow.
The most exciting part of the book was when Travis commits suicide. He committed suicide in Pollys orchard. He did it in Kates secret hid out place thats where they found him. When he does that everybody feels really sorry and sad. They thought of him for everything that they did. They even though of him when they were eating lunch. Kate and Travis were very sorry that he did that. He went to nobody to everything. Thats what I think of the story.

Reader reviewed by Ryan W

Remembering the good times
During this story I really didnt like it but it mad me thing of stuff. Like when Travis died it made me thing of my best friend that died in 4th grade. Plus when Skeeter it made me laugh because it made me thing of this kid that I got into a fight with because he was harassing my friends. Then when his mom move to Cleveland I laugh to because my dad move to Yankton and I havent seen him since then. I thought it was weird that he meet her in the wood and ask him to go see a baby calf being born. When Travis made Skeeter settle down just by doing something to him I was like that is cool I need to learn that for my brothers. I also though Travis would have a lot of expensive nerdy stuff instead he had awesome little kid stuff. One of the main reason I didnt like the book was because it had nothing about skateboarding or anything I like in it. Another reason made me mad was that every one was crying because Travis died and they didnt even any him thats what had happen to my friend that died. I think that Buck should have done something about them saying that Travis was their best friend like beat them up. And towards the end it was really nice for Buck to give Miss Slater a hug. But that made me thing of remembering the good times.

Reader reviewed by Morgan H

I disliked this book because their wasnt a lot going on in to book. The book wasnt very exciting or adventurous. So I will tell you a brief summary of what happened in the book.
Trav moves to town and Kate, Buck, Trav, and Polly are best friends. They are always playing card games together. They sit out on Pollys porch and look out at the orchard. They would even go in it sometimes. Buck went away for the summer to his mothers. When he came back Kate was very beautiful. They all started freshman year and it was very crazy. Buck was so upset about Trav and Kate liking each other that he went out for freshman football. Trav and Kate told him they missed him so he quit. Kate tried out for the play and was very scared because she didnt think she was going to make it because their was only three spots open. But surprisingly she made it. Skeeter was being very rude to Mrs. Slater. So Kate had gone and talked to Mr. Slater and told him what was going on. Then he made a plan with Kate to beat up Skeeter and he did that during homecoming day. Trav had gotten caught stealing things from a store and was taken to jail and the first people he called was Buck and his father. Then for his punishment he was sent to go and work on a farm all summer. When he had gotten back he had gifts for everyone. Polly had gotten a bottle of perfume. Buck had gotten a calculator he had seen Trav have before. Kate had gotten a stuffed animal she had seen in his room before. Then Trav hangs himself in the orchard. And the gifts were a sign to all his friends he was going to do that.

Reader reviewed by Veronica J

The book Remembering the Good Times was not the best book Ive ever read, but it did have some good things I liked in it. This book was not only funny, and happy, but it was very sad towards the end. Throughout the beginning and the middle it was pretty boring until I hit the end.
I dont usually like to read unless I find a good book, and this book didnt really catch me. I enjoy reading books when a lot happens, and sometimes not in a good way, like Trav committing suicide; that part caught my eye. In the beginning of the book I thought it was boring, but then in the middle of the story, things started to pick up.
For me this was not the easiest book to read. When I dont like a book, I cant read it as well. When I am reading a good book, I read a lot faster. So when I was reading this book, it took me a longer time to finish it than usual.
I really enjoyed the part when things werent going so well, Kate and Buck were called to the office and were told to go home. Tensions were rising at that part. Then it was sad when Kate and Buck found out Trav had hung himself at the orchards. I liked that part a lot, because that was the only part that made me want to keep reading more.
Overall, this book sure wasnt the greatest, but it wasnt the worst. I wouldnt recommend it to my friends, because I dont think they would be interested in it. Next time, if we read a book, I hope it to be more exciting than Remembering the Good Times.

Reader reviewed by Jordan F.

Remembering the Good Times is a great book about friendship. The three best friends; Kate, Trav, and buck go through good and tough times. Like an average teen has trouble in his or her life. Kates grandma Polly is part of there group of friends. The four of them play cards and as the years go on their friendship grows and grows. I personally didnt like the book because it really had nothing interesting in it until the last chapters. So if you are into books with lots of surprises and secrets for you to find, this would not be the book for you. I also didnt like it because it was very depressing. It was Buck looking back and he was telling about the past of there friendship. So if you dont want to read a depressing story, or if you get really touchy in books, this wouldnt be the book for you. In the book Remembering the Good Times you will find out that Trav is a little different. He gets worried a lot, always has to be in advanced classes, has to have everything perfect, and never seems to be able to except himself. I he does good in something, he wants to be even better. He is never happy. That is another thing why I dont like the book. Because when I read the book it was like Trav was so different from everyone. It seemed like he was from a different planet. But if you like books about friends, and books that have sad endings. Then I recommend the book Remembering the Good Tmes.

Reader reviewed by Darian V.

If I would have had a friend recommended this book to me, I wouldnt have read it. It is just simply not my kind of book at all. I had many troubles and struggles keeping on task when it came to reading. I even had to sit down it the quietest most tiny room I could to actually even get startedthe closet. It took me a large total of ninety minutes to read ONE chapter. That is exactly how difficult it was for me. I would never recommend this to my friends because I feel they would feel the same as I do because we all have the same taste in books (specifically by Stephenie Meyer) and we love reading. I feel that there needs to be a selection of books to choose from rather than having a book shoved in your face and forced to read it even though you mentally can not. Reading should be fun and you should want to just spend your day in a good book, not reading a book you just can not. I feel it is just not fair to not let us choose which book we want to choose and if there are any people of my age that wish to have books RECOMMENDED by a teacher, than that should be their choice. All in all this book just was not my type of book and I am happy and content reading books of my choosing. I hope that others find good books too.

Reader reviewed by Savanna S

Remembering The Good Times is an okay book. I like and dislike this book

I like this book for a few reasons. One reason is it makes a good point. You should know your friends inside and out. You should know how they are feeling, what they do, you should know everything. If you dont you could end up being the one who loses a friend, family member, or a loved one. I guarantee you it would be horrible.

Another reason I liked this book was because of the characters. My favorite character was Polly because she was like one of the teenagers yet, she is one of the oldest people in Solcom. She always loved when Kate, Buck, and Trav would come over to play games with her and just to talk to her. I dont see how she is mean and they call her the meanest in Slocom.

I also dislike this book. I hate how Trav got so close to Kate, Buck, and Polly. Then he had to commit suicide in the orchard. Why there? Also I dont see why they didnt have a funeral for Trav. That would have been a whole lot better than having a meeting. When Buck and Kate walked into the school and everyone started talking about Trav. I thought that was dumb because nobody even knew him.

Overall this is a pretty good book. I just didnt like it but thats my opinion. I would not tell a friend to read this book.

Reader reviewed by Ryan H.

For Remembering the Good Times I recommend the book to adults who like books. In my mind I thought that the book was about to make me fall asleep. I think that the book should not be read by kids and teens. It does not really give action in Remembering the Good Times.
In the book it has three kids that are the protagonist. It includes Kate, a farm like kid, Buck a trailer kid, and Trav a kid like smart kid. Skeeter is the fat bully in the school who is cocky. Polly Prior is the grandma of Kate and mean until the end. Through Remembering the Good Times, Trav becomes obsessed with world crisis and media. Buck lives in a crowded trailer with his dad. Kate spends most of her time with Polly to take care of her. Trav moved at Slocum six months ago and is unhappy. He is going into advanced classes like math, language and reading. Trav is the bad one in my mind. All of them are friends because they are different.
The story goes through out many years, but the lives of the characters do not change. Through the end of the story Travis becomes crazy kid by going to jail and then ends up committing suicide. After Travs death, the school is running through chaos over Travis. The school addresses that it is not their faults for this.The story is well written, but I disliked this story, because it was boring.

Reader reviewed by John H.

Well Remembering the Good Times was an interesting and new book because it has been a while since Ive read a book about teen issues. As you can already tell this story is about teen issues and covers the life of three teenagers. First, Kate Lucas, is an average girl who lives with her mother and grandmother Polly. Her mother is to young, naïve, and immature to take care of her so Polly is her main caretaker. Second is Travis Kirby, a young man who likes and does well in school but sees a strong resemblance of him through his parents. The third, Buck, which is the narrator is an average boy that lives with his father in a trailer. The three teens learn about the struggles of life and other social problems. As interesting as this might sound the lack of plot structure and boring dialogue leaves me sleeping as I read. Very few parts if any at all made me interested in picking up this book and to keep reading. Once you get started it is hard to push yourself to keep reading. The problem with this story is it really has no point and only discusses the main problems of a teenager and can be covered in a much shorter space. Though opinions of this book may vary, or actually vary greatly I am not a huge fan of this kind of genre. Overall I do not recommend this book to teenagers.

Reader reviewed by Samuel S.

I think remembering the good times has some good parts to it and some not to good. One of the reasons why I enjoyed it is because it always keeps you up on your feet. I like the book because it is easy to start reading and never stop. The author did a great job detailing places so you can easily picture then in your mind. The characters Kate, buck, Trav, and Polly personalitys were easy to learn.
There are also some parts of the book that I did not care for. I thought that having Trav commit suicide wasnt good. I also thought that the author did not include bucks dad, Kates mom, and Mr.Kirby and Mrs.Kirby in the book enough.
This book would not have been the same if Kate, buck, Trav, and Polly were not in the story if Trav and Kate would have dated I wonder what buck would think. When Trav killed himself I thought that that it is sad that Trav thought it wasnt worth living.
I would recommend this book to all people who like suspension. This book tells a good story that is easy to follow. Over all I thought book was fairly good. This good has good details and characters and it is well thought out.
At Chapter 15, when they had an assembly at the school for trav. The principle said something that was good. He Said how many young people are committing suicide, that there should be something done about it.