Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Straight Punch
    Straight Punch
    Straight Punch
    Ebook215 pages3 hours

    Straight Punch

    By Monique Polak

    3.5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Tessa McPhail has a bad habit—tagging—that lands her at New Directions, an alternative school in Montreal’s toughest neighborhood. The school is far from Tessa’s home and full of troubled kids. To make matters worse, half of every school day is devoted to boxing. The other students think boxing is cool. Not Tessa, who cannot handle violence of any kind. But when a neighbor starts a petition to have New Directions closed down, Tessa discovers something worth fighting for, both in and out of the ring.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOrca Book Publishers
    Release dateMar 1, 2014
    ISBN9781459803930
    Straight Punch
    Author

    Monique Polak

    Monique Polak is the author of more than thirty books for young people. She is the three-time winner of the Quebec Writers' Federation Prize for Children's and YA Literature for her novels Hate Mail, What World is Left and Room for One More. In addition to teaching at Marianopolis College in Montreal, Monique is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in Maclean's Magazine, the Montreal Gazette and other Postmedia newspapers. She is also a columnist on ICI Radio-Canada's Plus on est de fous, plus on lit! In 2016, Monique was the CBC/Quebec Writers' Federation inaugural writer-in-residence. Monique lives in Montreal.

    Read more from Monique Polak

    Related to Straight Punch

    Related ebooks

    YA Social Themes For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Beauty Of Boldness

      Aug 14, 2023

      The Beauty Of Boldness
      5 min read

    • Article

      Essential Gear

      Sep 14, 2021

      1 Stick and move. That’s what they say, anyway. Float. Sting. Fight with speed and style. That’s all well and good, but first you need to train, and training requires equipment. The better the equipment, the better the training. The optimal equipment

      2 min read

    • Article

      Let’s Say

      Oct 7, 2022

      I magine a sticky, early August morning, around three o’clock. It is dark, the moon blocked by clouds, no streetlights, a siren in the distance, medics running to a heart attack. Imagine a man out on a bike or walking a sick dog, or maybe a woman who

      10 min read

    • Article

      This Lousy Heart

      Jul 18, 2019

      This Lousy Heart
      14 min read

    • Article

      Come with Me

      Dec 1, 2022

      Come with Me
      12 min read

    • Article

      Beyond Rose Street

      Nov 10, 2021

      “Don’t tell anyone what happened to Tyler.” I stop running just long enough to turn, hoping for more instructions, but Leyton is already sprinting up his porch steps and through his front door. “Should we—” He slams the door behind him. Even from whe

      20 min read

    • Article

      The Leather Coat

      Apr 4, 2024

      The Leather Coat
      6 min read

    • Article

      Joshua Mohr: The Time I Robbed a Liquor Store

      Mar 10, 2017

      Our alibi was a sandy blanket in the back of my truck, an acoustic guitar, a knockout brunette in the passenger seat. Our alibi was a night picnic at the beach. When we got pulled over—if we got pulled over—the cop would peer in the cab and he’d thin

      6 min read

    • Article

      Lil Spin

      May 17, 2019

      Lil Spin
      8 min read

    • Article

      Who Was That Girl?

      Apr 21, 2021

      Who Was That Girl?
      7 min read

    • Article

      Shame Is Ever-Present When You’re Sitting in a Cell

      Oct 23, 2020

      Between a strained relationship with my family and the death of a good friend, I’ve struggled to feel like I’m worth something.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Crime Wave

      May 10, 2019

      Crime Wave
      13 min read

    • Article

      Three Poems

      Mar 1, 2020

      Then I heard a violinand it didn’t matter that I was a Jew,they are painting swastikas on campus walls.What happens when they paint them on my doorfor my kids to see?I will sic the cat after them.I will sic the violin after them.What can a violin dot

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Silhouette Artist

      Jul 25, 2019

      The Silhouette Artist
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Man I Should Have Married

      Dec 29, 2019

      The Man I Should Have Married
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Bullet in My Arm

      Sep 6, 2018

      The Bullet in My Arm
      13 min read

    • Article

      This Is Not A Drill

      Mar 7, 2024

      This Is Not A Drill
      10 min read

    • Article

      Nikki Sixx

      Oct 12, 2021

      Nikki Sixx
      14 min read

    • Article

      The Boy Who Cried Wolf

      Jun 9, 2020

      Josh Turner from Austin, Texas The egg landed with a splat on the truck window. ‘Bullseye,’ grinned my buddy Dave*. Hiding in the shadows, as the car drove past, we could see the driver gesticulating furiously. It was 31 October 1990 – Halloween – a

      4 min read

    • Article

      Righteous

      Jan 22, 2019

      Righteous
      8 min read

    • Article

      Speedboat

      Mar 24, 2022

      Nobody died that year. Nobody prospered. There were no births or marriages. Seventeen reverent satires were written – disrupting a cliché and, presumably, creating a genre. That was a dream, of course, but many of the most important things, I fi nd,

      14 min read

    • Article

      Caught Out

      Oct 2, 2022

      Caught Out
      9 min read

    • Article

      It Happened to Me…

      Jan 5, 2022

      I too have experienced ‘The voice of authority’ [FT410:75]. When I was younger, I had a romance that lasted about six months. At first it was terrific, then it wasn’t, then it ended. Nothing drastic. Several months later, I had a day off work. I had

      7 min read

    • Article

      Epithalamium

      Jun 1, 2023

      Epithalamium
      16 min read

    • Article

      Jørn ‘Necrobutcher’ Stubberud

      Sep 16, 2021

      ‘Necrobutcher’ Stubberud is an extreme metal lifer. Aside from a three-year period in the early 90s, the 53-year-old bassist has steered the Norwegian icons since founding the band in 1984. Today, he’s the band’s longest-serving member, weathering th

      5 min read

    • Article

      Phil Bozeman

      Jan 6, 2022

      PHIL BOZEMAN FACED down the worst life had to offer early on. The Tennessee-born Whitechapel singer lost both parents by the time he was in his mid-teens – his dad to a heart attack, his troubled mother to drug addiction. Rather than drown in his own

      5 min read

    • Article

      One Coyote

      Sep 29, 2020

      One Coyote
      9 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Straight Punch

    3.5/5

    20 ratings9 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Straight Punch was different then many other YA books i've read before, yes it dealt with troubled teens and that seems to be the topic of many YA novels, but never one where the alternative school focuses on both academics and boxing. I wasn't sure if I would really get into this story, which is why It took me a while to pick it up, but suprisingly I did enjoy this story and was able to finish the book in just a few days. I didn't rate it higher because while it was a good, enjoyable story, it wasn't anything spectacular, and many of the twists and turns were predictable. If you like YA troubled teen books or boxing, then you should give this book a try because it was enjoyable.
    • 3/5
      I won this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program, and received it on 7 February 2014. Review to follow.Disclaimer: I'm not a teen, just an adult who also enjoys YA, so I know I'm not in the target age group for this novel.Through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program, I've been able to read three of Monique Polak's books. The first of those, MIRACLEVILLE, was a pleasant surprise. I wasn't sure what I'd think of the religious aspects, but I thought Polak did a good job dealing with different perspectives. The second book, SO MUCH IT HURTS, was a disappointment, though: Polak tackled the tough subject matter of a teenage girl in an abusive relationship with an older man, but it honestly felt like she was wrapping a story around the warning signs listed in a "You Might Be In An Abusive Relationship If..." pamphlet.This book, STRAIGHT PUNCH, was more in line with MIRACLEVILLE. While it still has occasional annoying tones of the after-school special variety, the story is strong, if sparse.THE GOOD:- Tessa. In an age where it seems like female protagonists are either dainty darlings or hard-assed warriors who don't need anyone, Tessa was a nice change. She's a graffiti artist, and she felt genuine. She was neither the smartest nor the dumbest, not the prettiest or the ugliest, not the most popular or the least. She was more Average Everyday Teenage Girl.- The messages. While the messages may have suffered from cloying delivery at times, they were nonetheless strong points. Don't judge someone until you know them. You can always learn something new. Confront your fears. You're stronger than you think.- Tessa's mom. All too often in YA, parents are either absent or irrelevant. It was nice to see a mother-daughter relationship go through strife and come out stronger.THE BAD: - Pacing. It feels like hardly any time has passed between Tessa hating her new school to all of a sudden defending her new friends. I wanted to witness more of her growth at New Directions, and to see more of her interactions with her fellow students.- Cyrus. Tessa's boyfriend almost feels like a non-entity, which makes the drama surrounding him fall sort of flat.- Cliches. As I mentioned above, the book can have an after-school special feel, complete with character stereotypes. The pregnant teen. The misunderstood gay teen. The boxer hiding from his past. If the characters were fleshed out more, it wouldn't be as much of an issue, but Polak doesn't describe anyone in detail. We're told Randy is "hot", but what does he look like, except big and muscular? We're told Jasmine is Asian (and left to assume she's Chinese or Korean), but "Asian" can cover a lot of groups.- Plot gaps. New Directions has obviously been running for at least a year, so why does the neighbour only complain now? Why did Tessa have to go specifically to an "alternative" school? Why didn't her mother bring up homeschooling as an option before? None of these holes is a deal-breaker, but I wish Polak had addressed them.OVERALL:Despite the after-school special overtones, STRAIGHT PUNCH is an enjoyable read. Tessa is a protagonist who's easy to relate to, and she doesn't feel like an over-the-top teen. I just wish the other characters had more development.
    • 2/5
      This book was alright...but i don't think it's ready for publication yet. There's still some work that needs to be done to make the story and the characters deeper. It just missed that sense of captivation that comes with a book you know is complete.
    • 3/5
      As a librarian who works with youth in the juvenile justice system, I interested but skeptical to read Straight Punch by Monique Polak. Books that reflect the experiences of my youth are always needed, but I'm always a little nervous when a relatively privileged, apparently white girl gets in trouble with the law and ends up in someplace like "a last chance school in Montreal's roughest neighborhood." And, while I appreciate the work Orca does to publish materials for reluctant readers, their books often feel like they need a few more drafts before publication. There are many aspects of this book that will appeal to reluctant readers, and some teens will be able to skip over the less believable aspects of the story line, but overall this title falls short of offering a compelling realistic look at the lives of teenagers involved in the legal system. The book's strength is in a writing style & voice that will appeal to reluctant readers. The preliminary story set-up is covered quickly, in a handful of pages, dropping the reader into the central story line and conflict very quickly. The voice feels authentic to the character, reflecting the thought process and speech of a modern teen. The story continues to move very fast throughout. The narrator often skips over time without wasting any words on describing how much time has passed or what has happened in the interim. Unfortunately, there are many issues with the believability of the story for me. Some readers will miss them or be able to skip over them, but more discerning readers will get caught on these flaws. It seems unrealistic to me that the system would force Tessa into a program that contains a 50% boxing curriculum when she has clear signs of PTSD triggered by fighting. Even if there wasn't any kind of psychiatric evaluation in her sentencing, I would think her involved attentive mother would have spoken up. It is also hard to believe that three tagging offenses take our character straight from a fancy magnet school to a "last chance academy." And the idea that a teacher who specializes in working with troubled youth would start the school year with a deep memory exercise, something that is pretty much guaranteed to trigger a room full of traumatized kids, really stretched believability. There were a few too many "issues" going on, as if each of the characters represented a troubled teen "type" to be covered -- pregnancy, alcoholism, learning disabilities, etc. The semi-abusive boyfriend really pushed it over the edge. The school name, New Directions, kept giving me flashes of Glee, which really didn't work with the story. Finally, the story's conclusion wrapped up far too quickly -- too much tell and not enough show. One speech and "poof," everything is OK again. Again, there are certainly reluctant readers who will enjoy this book, and the boxing is a good hook. The language is easy to follow and the story's pace is quick. I just think it needed a few more revisions and a little more focus to really make it a quality book.
    • 5/5
      This book was just amazing and I think it's safe to say that it is actually one of my favorite books I've ever read. This is book shows many realistic points, which I quite enjoyed and I felt the need to read it all in one go (which I find hard to do for many books). Overall, I don't know what to change in this book and such a great book in general.
    • 4/5
      Tessa's habit of tagging gets her in trouble with the law and expelled from high school. She's sent to New Directions, an alternative school that has regular classes in the mornings and boxing training in the afternoon. At first, she's terrified, but she quickly settles in, makes friends with the other students, and comes to enjoy boxing.I would say this book is pretty predictable; I wasn't surprised by anything in it. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it. There are a lot of YA novels about football, baseball, etc., but this is the first one I've encountered that features boxing.
    • 3/5
      I'm not so much into sports type books but somehow this one kept my attention. The book wasn't exactly 'there' but it wasn't too bad. It just felt like something was missing, i'm not sure what. I did enjoy the characters and am a little more interested in boxing thanks to reading this, though. Overall i'd say it's a pretty good read if you've got spare time and want a good little story.
    • 3/5
      I received this Advance Readers Copy from LibraryThing.This novel follows the story about a girl named Tessa who gets into trouble with the law and it kicked out of her school. She is then sent to an alternative school, called New Directions, which focuses half of each day on boxing. She ends up becoming friends with people she never thought she would, and she learns how to confront her fear of violence originating from a riot at a hockey game earlier in her life. Boxing helps channel aggression and forces the person to act on their fear.I enjoyed certain aspects of this novel, especially getting to know the other students at New Directions. These kids have their share of problems, but it was interesting to hear their backgrounds which explains a lot about the people they are today. Most people don't stop and think about what these kids may have lived through, but simply think of these kids as delinquents and lost causes. Many would be surprised to hear that many have heartbreaking stories. This eye opener was my favorite part of this book.It was a decent book, but I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it was a more in depth story about the relationships and friendships between the students and Tessa, and if we learned more about what landed each student at New Horizons.
    • 4/5
      When Tessa gets caught leaving one too many graffiti tags, she finds herself kicked out of school and sent to "New Directions" a last-chance school for troubled teens with an impressive boxing program. Unfortunately, Tessa hates violence and isn't sure how she'll ever fit in given that most of the kids have situations much more dire than her own, but she's not getting out of this.The backdrop of Montréal (a city with more than a little street art) works well for this coming of age story. I chose to read this while visiting the city, so the setting felt rich to me in ways that it might not have if I'd read it at another time. I was expecting more boxing out of Straight Punch, but actually the thing that struck me most about this were the moments you were seeing the world through Tessa's artist eyes. I agree that it does feel a little "after school special with troubled teens" but the messages about standing up for what's right and what matters aren't any less true for having been told a thousand times. This book is perhaps better for teens than jaded adult readers, but it's still a nice little story about a teenager finding her inner strengths.

    Book preview

    Straight Punch - Monique Polak

     2^book_preview_excerpt.html}[ێFffp v98 >c$(]E<#̇KZkW 0Xj.^ؼ|x9|n^|yk|{/bŸ^bSm3&qhF߇~.wxpcrom7&ܾ~vu0ږ:vww6wM}spmbu9@q}?6]8c]Hylƀ.796GB_ueaticx~h~"fhxl}F-:j]x90m}%?,AM i%MfS^#Dyǔ!~5yO!!t%Ƨ?Դ~綾kD:^ &5?\^|%NyHq[ZzЅǰ6 %\y[:8d2]N ΍w\5: ^x[^Npa :76tux(QX_w.@콟|&Ne!˺h 'B=Oj$#Mh\Dj4 S} 1簁7eHBbC˘3׵|G[0j[O3aT%yrix8_Oή-<m}5>Y~$&rpenxXz!EΔ蚰6x=m_\ARG}t8+K^nV8$b>N3Ѳ2Xm25vG%Z3n} i69PN=,,ذmSDXM'E=O"nC4`f`7?!>gAvvitt, ImI3` ![n}R4o 8oeXQ3&4`wv6TqD0ۮn7 ~* #y ԅ;k:&EגHH#ZF8ZV_îzy 9Ž~gWity.z(Rc#]q,[0ԻJ i肹'./rȆ#v)OZqɟ6q0R}|<41%S.&A7hّ,H J84x l K Q\č7j2{Ϣ8=Ib ICOTLwM/#$Z;[:tʥ@mit IqzKf_ҭiQhF rEE>x 2uD21 d,9YN1 b8\rؒjfptP03.3P!|oʀN w]܄WT9g Zb(x7<HKGИ{EꦈW{ "u##sGv .~^eķsXiͲIuu{Y`v"Zow\P;[ڳ:O`4AxҘI4PoIkd4H1nI-g}X63=Z-gphQQQDA'E~ɺA" U{ YUyގ111@)Y;.f݊1 [ZE&}RFX˫K dfvo-`_H+Hp[i (SG,U Ri3r vdմXV[<1`"еEeŐ@G]a-Å Sސ+YBYiՄp NBI/b'SYD٘躬IYG`{| \9)5O} PkEv|ي6V_c(5'_+ֵܱE20 $DbIYZPr,vbUY 8?g D6t_AuV (hAÅ|abn}{(*\ -]ֹ #WEJaX 2WXA~w==4D..c!g4%&aA31[yM.SʲUyΛjiS*U'd5{\1TXψ9IqlTrЃT,4w4a|(T@QaٷJ_ LMAQP s2wyj1]R8RY6͔yX ıRʁɄn8Vo\)JyVNWD={'O3RMB9)MiZbNlӉn&P'-KBu9ۺWw$>2c)ebvosGQsnz. @iňcP2}W25GKNpb@Nh46UepRsg"[1b:˿`HQwK6ZT.wo9X5:@na< ֳL_a`..f%%Sse OIp>y YBw0of98\OHK:U$eY*n ]ÈX`sfo}#!'廩R5?4+Œc[V穏VyIqT۹{D0vug1O=Q&.+O'&48T-XKz+u2>Ϩ C@.2襷bcOe@S+lq>`ٵM\rzݥ:2%e4=,XU~"pv+zxoȇ7T>]1q4ˇu)Y<5%#.c%} noDjGvz~*yZrIVb8>"gFt'kۄֱc1AѤuܔ}isB-i>&u _0'UzH@&f"?"6$(GK[Hka5pp.$/n,f 8z˃8bD5F1ҢE ;aS/OͪqN~2%y:1G8"*. ," DS/1@͜k3yԨG)]緭Sݶ{]IʮM14,C2^+6,CGj&PUG 8YNF vxߩ3o B0滞&TzmF'?KmƳQp2Ⰹ:-r#Q&$l~iUCFzI)X#iFq,3gZy~?R d"Ke:X|1nҰ=qڏu)Vzfw7_ylC{+TQ[Η/Q[*DD%̉)SU ]5M>GTufnaACå* Nc)s셗LHM}E/JujEeURW3* Z!H2g*a5Ҵǧ>ڬhCƎӢ*TՕT7hq[}m>ͦ(NNçUAOKS zvo˄d=E|*Z vrL>&cTf lt,`?XM¯D_ꠦK\_2?S|2X~Ft!"W3m'Kes*?
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1