Saturday, January 03, 2009

Swimming with the Sharks by Debbie Reed Fischer

Five-foot eleven. Freckled. Flat as a surfboard. Peyton
Grady sees her role on the varsity cheer squad as the only
thing keeping her off the social sidelines at wealthy
Beachwood Preparatory Academy. It's her umbilical cord to
cool-and it's constantly in danger of getting cut. As a
base, it's Peyton's duty to be stepped on-literally-by
cheer queen Lexie Court. So when Lexie hatches a fierce
hazing campaign against the frumpy new girl, Peyton has no
choice but to support her flier. Soon the pranks become
sadistically cruel, even criminal. Suddenly, Peyton has
more to lose than her new-found Alpha celebrity. Will she
gamble her entire future for "the good of the squad"?

Debbie Reed Fischer's second novel, Swimming with the
Sharks, is an easy-to-read page turner filled with many
laugh-out-loud moments. Right from the beginning, I was
hooked. I loved how easy it was to connect with the
narrator, Peyton, and how I could feel every emotion she
experienced. Fischer did an amazing job describing
everything that was going on, making it feel as if you
were really there. Swimming with the Sharks taught a very
important lesson in friendship and relationships. This
book was a good way to teach readers that hazing is wrong
and that you should always do the right thing.
This book contained hazing and bullying.

Reviewer Age:17
Reviewer City, State and Country: Leopold, MO USA