Warrior Angel

by Robert Lipsyte

Overview

Sonny Bear is a champion. . .but he needs the help of an angel.

Sonny Bear, the Tomahawk Kid, is on a fast downhill slide with the heavyweight championship at stake. He hardly knows who he is anymore, or why he should keep on fighting.

Then the first e-mail arrives.

Do not lose heart. I come on a Mission from the Creator to save you.

-- Warrior Angel

The Warrior Angel might be just what Sonny Bear needs -- but will Sonny be prepared to save him, too?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061997334
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/26/2010
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
Lexile:	700L (what's this?)
File size:	405 KB
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Robert Lipsyte is the author of twelve acclaimed novels for young adults and is the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award honoring his lifetime contribution to the genre. His debut YA novel, The Contender, has sold more than one million copies. He was an award-winning sportswriter for the New York Times and the Emmy-winning host of the nightly public affairs show The Eleventh Hour. He lives on Shelter Island, New York, with his wife, Lois, and his dog, Apollo.

Editorial Reviews

In The Contender, The Brave, and The Chief, former sportswriter Robert Lipsyte carved out stories of young boxers struggling against the odds. In Warrior Angel, he returns to the characters and scenes of these award-winning novels. At the center of this riveting comeback story are Sonny Bear, a heavyweight champion trapped in a steady downhill slide, and Starkey, a young man who is determined to save him.

The virtues Lipsyte preaches, however subtly, constitute an ancient creed of honorable masculinity: the learning curve is an arc toward responsibility and discipline. Wise authority figures always offer guidance, and while Lipsyte's mentors never condescend, they're always right. — Simon Rodberg

The New York Times

Popular series unfold in further installments. Robert Lipsyte's many fans will be eager for Warrior Angel, a taut sports adventure in the series begun with The Contender. In this outing, Sonny Bear defends the heavyweight boxing championship he won in The Chief. As usual with Lipsyte, the protagonist struggles at least as much with his psyche as he does in the ring; now his inner conflicts are complicated by his encounters with a mentally ill youth who claims to be on a mission from the creator-to save Sonny. The earlier paperbacks in the series are being repackaged simultaneously with high-gloss photographic covers, to tie in with the look of this new hardcover. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 9 Up-Sonny Bear, the youngest fighter ever to win a heavyweight boxing crown, is in trouble. Despite barely winning his last bout, his promoter immediately announces that he will defend his title against a formidable opponent. Clearly, the champ is not physically or emotionally ready for the match. Sonny always seems to be running away, from the reservation and his Native American heritage, from the people who want to control his life, and from his true friends. Starkey, a self-described Warrior Angel, is convinced he is the only person who can help Sonny. Unfortunately, Starkey is in a group home for emotionally disturbed youth, and needs to find a way to get to "The Tomahawk Kid" before it's too late. This thought-provoking, suspenseful, psychological sports thriller makes readers feel as though they are inside the minds of the protagonists. However, some teens may be initially confused when the chapters switch from Sonny's viewpoint to Starkey's, and may have even more difficulty when Starkey begins hearing voices in his head. Many characters from The Contender (1967), The Brave (1993), and The Chief (1995, all HarperCollins) make appearances in this novel and readers who have read at least one of those books will have an easier time sorting out the supporting cast. Lipsyte effectively keeps the action flowing through Sonny's boxing sequences and Starkey's fights with his demons and struggle to complete his Mission in time. The author pulls no punches with the raw, real-life language. This book, along with the earlier titles, will be an easy sell to many teens, especially those enamored with the sports world.-Michael McCullough, Byron-Bergen Middle School, Bergen, NY Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Sonny Bear fights like a zombie, throwing punches as if he's underwater. He's the heavyweight champion, but he feels lost, drugged, and hollow. He wins the bout that opens the story with a split decision, hardly looking like a champion, not even sure what he is doing out there. He has run from the Reservation, cynical about the Moscondaga Nation, but only feels accepted by whites because he's a champ. Now he's "the Tomahawk Kid, the Natural Man, the Native Son" and faces an existential crisis: "Shove that tired old Redskin crap, I'm not anything anymore. Not Indian, not white. Leave me alone. I'm not anywhere." In a parallel narrative, Starkey, the self-appointed Warrior Angel with a Mission for the Creator, escapes his group home to save Sonny's soul and prepare him to defend his title against Floyd (The Wall) Hall. Starkey seems mentally ill but gives Sonny what he needs: a return to Donatelli's Gym, old friends, and a strict training regimen. In this conclusion to his boxing saga first begun with The Contender over 35 years ago and nearly 10 years since The Chief, Lipsyte demonstrates his sportswriter's gift of muscular prose and vivid detail. Sonny looks down on the Vegas strip and thinks it looked "like all the crayons in the world melted into a dazzling river." When Sonny goes out for a run, Starkey follows on bike, "squeaking along a slalom course of garbage and broken bottles and ruptured concrete on the fifteen blocks down to Central Park." With a swift plot, exciting boxing scenes, the mysterious, unstable character of Starkey, and life lessons drawn from boxing, this will appeal to fans of sports novels and all enthusiasts of good writing regardless of genre. The long wait hasbeen worth it. (Fiction. 12+)

Kirkus Reviews

Lipsyte’s combination of gritty emotional realism and vivid descriptions of boxing action makes this fast-paced story a gripping read.” — ALA Booklist

“Lipsyte cannily teases the action along. Readers will be rapt at ringside ’til the decision is called.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“In this conclusion to his boxing saga…Lipsyte demonstrates his sportswriter’s gift of muscular prose and vivid details.” — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Lipsyte cannily teases the action along. Readers will be rapt at ringside ’til the decision is called.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Lipsyte’s combination of gritty emotional realism and vivid descriptions of boxing action makes this fast-paced story a gripping read.

ALA Booklist

Lipsyte cannily teases the action along. Readers will be rapt at ringside ’til the decision is called.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Lipsyte cannily teases the action along. Readers will be rapt at ringside ’til the decision is called.

The Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books