The Shadow Club

I'm an adult who read this book bc my eighth-grader was assigned it for summer reading. I figured I would also read it so we could discuss it. I read it in a day. I found the plot to be somewhat predictable and the vocabulary very basic. The heavy-handed nature of the author's even-good-kids-should-take-care-not-to-turn-into-bullies warning bore no subtlety whatsoever and was reminiscent of an "ABC After-school Special." (I'm showing my age here.) The message wasn't bad, per se, but given that the rest of her reading list included classics like 1984, A Raisin in the Sun, The Time Machine, The Scarlet Pimpernell, and Anne of Green Gables, I frankly expected this to be a better book. The characters are two-dimensional characitures, and the assumption that all middle-schoolers are jealous of their peers' success is quite insulting to any mature middle-schooler. I'm not sure why the teacher choose it; perhaps it was to give the class one easy, breezy read to offset the more challenging books. Again, it's not a horrible book, just simplistic in a pretty predictable way.

As an English professor and an avid reader, it's been a source of distress that one of my grandchildren doesn't like to read. He is fast-paced and doesn't like to slow down long enough to read; like so many of my students, he'll "wait for the movie." Recently he told me that his class at school had been reading THE SHADOW CLUB and that he had been reading ahead because he loved it. I bought it for him on the spot and purchased THE SHADOW CLUB RISING, the sequel, and two other books by Shusterman as well. He was excited to have them and has told me at length what he likes about the books: the constant action and drama, the characters sympathetic to his age group (11), etc. I thank Neal Shusterman for turning my grandson on to reading at long last!

Great story, I like they way it was told. Could not guess the ending. This real could have happened and maybe happens every day to teens. Good read for 13-16 year olds.

Couldn’t get into it. Definitely meant for middle school age readers. I just love Shusterman’s work so I had to try.

I bought a new copy of the book but is came wrinkled and as if it had gotten wet.

I purchased 2 copies of this book as my daughter had required reading for 7th grade. My intent was to be able to discuss the book with her, so we read the book 'together'. While I admittedly was not excited to be reading a teen book, the premise of the story was interesting and kept my attention. The books talks to friendship, values, and many things children in this age group encounter. It was an enjoyable, hard to put down book. My daughter has now asked for the second book in the series and I'll probably steal it after she has finished.

I used this in my Reading class and it held the students' attention. A bit slow in the beginning but once it picked up, they were hooked. Shusterman is a wonderful storyteller

I've always loved this book since I read it in elementary school. I first read it in 5th grade and I've read it every year of school I had afterwards and I'm sure I still will later in life. It never ceases to amaze me each time I read it.