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By Razz A.

            There were some strengths and some weaknesses in "Knockout". "Knockout Games" is  a realistic fictional book about a teenage girl, named Erica, that moves to St. Louis with her mother because of difficult family relations. When she goes to school in St. Louis she knows she is different because she is one of the only white girls in her school. During school, her art teacher Mrs. Lee gives Erica some videos about filming. Erica takes up filming and she uses her camera that her dad bought her to film everyone in school. This gets her in trouble with some students. One student named Destiny who got  in a fist fight with Erica ends up becoming friends after Erica takes blame on something Destiny did after hearing that Destiny was on her final warning of getting suspended. They become best friends and Destiny shows Erica this group called TKO. This had a bunch of "tokers" are boys who smoked pot then played The Knockout Game, which is a game involving TKO'S attacking by standers, but not taking anything, with the  Knockout King, Kalvin. Kalvin was very friendly to Erica and she became part of TKO, her role was to film the boys playing The Knockout Game. The Knockout Game was very popular throughout the middle school and high school; so when Erica uploaded her videos on Facebook they got hits immediately. The Knockout Game was very frowned upon by the upper class white community who tries to control The Knockout Game while things get out of control for Erica, Kalvin and the TKO squad. This book was good, although readers need to be mature to read this book.

            Some of the strengths are that the book was in first person so you knew everything the protagonist, Erica, was thinking while doing. This is good because we understood the pain that Erica was going through and other emotions. This book also had some informational facts behind it regarding The Knockout Game which is a real problem that is reoccurring throughout the US, including St. Louis. There are movie references in the book that the author put in, one especially mentioned was the movie Bonnie and Clyde.

            Several weaknesses were that  although most of the book was in first person sometimes the book turned into a third person story which can become confusing to the readers.  Another weakness was that there were some clichés in the book, for example, in the beginning the parents split up and friends becoming enemies and enemies becoming friends, for example, Erica and Destiny befriending each other. Another weakness is that a side character was killed which caused the story to spiral out of control and ruined the story by trying to show this game is not that bad, but then making it look even worse.

            There were some strengths and some weaknesses in this book. I would recommend this book to the readers who want a little drama and romance, many action moments, and some historical writing. You might want to read this book, it's tough, but a good read. You can get it in a library probably under the historical fiction section.