Bam! He got hit right in the face….The Contender, by Robert Lypse, is a great book. Alfred, the main character, is a high school drop out, that wants to go somewhere in life. He is a bagger at a local grocery store, and it doesn't get any better when he finds out that his best friend, James tried to break in the store. Alfred is found by some of his other friends in a back alley, and gets beaten by them for getting James arrested. The next day, Alfred finds himself on the steps of a boxing gym, run by Mr. Donatelli. Mr. Donattelli tells Alfred that it is not going to be easy to become somebody through boxing. He was very truthful with all of the people he taught, and was very hard on them. Even though Alfred has mixed feelings about boxing, he still does it.

I loved this book. It is a great book for boys of the age of 10 and up. If you want to read a book that is about something that most people in America don't know much about, then this is the book for you. It doesn't get started very fast, but when you get started it's a real page turning book, that I think you will enjoy. If you want to know if Alfred becomes a contender then you need to read this book.