What Hearts

by Bruce Brooks and Brooks Bruce

Book Overview

Recipient of a 1993 Newbery Honor, this novel is an achingly beautiful, powerfully rendered journey through childhood that is not to be missed, now available in a new edition with a striking new cover.

"From an outstandingly perceptive writer, a moving portrait of a boy, observed at four revealing turning points." -- Pointer Review/Kirkus Reviews

"Combines fast, exciting action with an astonishing ending that proves the power of the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0064471276
• ISBN13: 9780064471275
• Release Date: May 1995
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 4.2" x 7.0"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 and higher

Customer Reviews

The Best Book In The World!!!!

I love this book!!! It was a little sad though. When he graduated the first grade he was so happy but whenever he told someone about it they did not seem to care. Then he moved ten times before he was eleven. His stepfather was so mean to him!!! Especially when he hit him with the baseball when they were practicing! My favorite part was when the love of his life gave him to candy hearts that said "I love you".

review by ChanilShanghai

This is Chan Il's book review not mine This is a book about a boy named Asa. It is written by Bruce Brooks. This book doesn't seem to be one of the best books that Bruce Brooks wrote, though most of his books got at least 4-stars from readers. I thought this book was about sports, which was what the librarian said, but sports wasn't the main thing in the book. There are many characters like his mother, father, and his stepfather but it mainly draws his life from his first grade to his fifth grade. Asa's parents get divorced when he was in his first grade and his mother marries a man from her university, called Dave. Asa doesn't really like his mother going out with another man but he couldn't do anything about it. As the time goes, Asa seems to get along quite well with Dave but I still think that Asa didn't like Dave from the start. One of the other things that this book deals with is Asa's first love. As this boy goes to school, he starts to like a pretty and brainy girl named Jean in his school. In the middle of the book, Asa says to her that he likes her but she doesn't answer. But at the Valentine Day, Jean gives Asa a candy saying `I love you I love you' on the candy wrapper. This book manages to talk about his parents and his first love at the same time which really makes this a 5star book to me. I want to recommend this book to anyone who has the opportunity to do so.

Wonderful Book

This book... is simply amazing. Asa, the main character, is a intelligent little boy faced with important and daunting changes in his life, starting the last day of first grade, and carrying on until he's in 7th. Asa's plight is described in such a way as to make you connect with him."What Hearts" is, while not quite 'dark', definitly poignant. It is the type of book you cannot put down and that you re-read often.

Straight from the heart

There are have been an incredible amount of books written in recent years for young people, but even if you exclude the junk there are very few that can be called really great. Bruce Brooks' "What Hearts" is one of these. Brooks presents his basic themes, forgiveness (a rather unusual subject) and the meaning of love, with absolute sincerity. Asa's feelings and problems are real. It doesn't matter how different your life and problems may be from Asa's; if you are sensitive to your own feelings, I think you will be able to identify with his. This may sound a bit odd, but it's also one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. I might particularly cite, in the second chapter, Asa's forgiveness and acceptance of his friend Joel. The end of this chapter is truly wonderful; all by itself, this would make the book a great one. Also the almost heartbreaking, though very beautiful, concluding chapter, one of the most sensitive and true descriptions of love (and, once again, forgiveness) that I know.All in all it's a masterpiece. Sure, hardly any book is absolutely flawless, and "What Hearts" is no exception. But the author's remarkable perception, exquisite writing, and love for the human heart transcend any small faults you might find with the story. It is one of those rare books that really come from the heart.

Great Book for all ages

This was a very good piece of writing. Bruce Brookse definatly knows what he's talking about in this book. He does an excellent job of showing Asa`s emotions toward his mother and his father getting divorced, and when his mother starts re-dating.