Gold Dust

by Chris Lynch

Book Overview

An ALA Best Book for Young AdultsA Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award NomineeAll of Boston has been waiting for the Gold Dust Twins to come to the 1975 Red Sox. It's a Sox fan's dream.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 006028174X
• ISBN13: 9780060281748
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 196 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.6"
• Age Range: 10 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 5 and higher

Customer Reviews

LIB 805 review by Julie Dalton

Even though this is another coming-of-age book I like the style and the setting in which it is written. The author writes the book from a first person point-of-view, just the way you would think a 12 year old boy would think and talk. The main characters are well described and round characters. To cause conflict and to further the plot, there are a few flat characters who antagonize and help the main character Richard Riley Moncrief to be dynamic and see the situation that Napolean Charlie Ellis is in. Napolean Charlie Ellis, however, is fairly static, the only ways in which he changes is the fact that he develops a real friendship with Richard and is willing to play and enjoy baseball. Richard, on the other hand, undergoes an extremely drastic charcter change. He goes from being closed and simple-minded to being able to think for and stand-up for himself and begins to realize how much race and status quo play in his life and community. He also, for the first time, develops a meaningful friendship that involves feeling for someone else and having someone challenge him to think.Overall this was an interesting and well-written book. It would be a great book to use with middle-school aged children to urge them to be their own person, think for themselves, and not listen to peer pressure or take other's thoughts and feelings as the truth.

Beautiful, brilliant, break-out book for Chris Lynch

This is a wonderful book! It's a fast, fun read with hidden depths. One of the most masterful uses of an unreliable narrator in children's books. It's just packed with insight and emotion and impossible, important questions about race, friendship, sports, and being a fan.

Wonderful book

I bought this book as a Christmas present for my 10-yr old son. He was just beginning to get interested in reading. He read it in one sitting. A beautiful story about two young friends that had my son's smile lit up for days!

Review for Gold Dust

The book I read was "Gold Dust" by Chris Lynch. What drew my attention to it was that it was based on a kid who was obsessed with baseball. I love baseball, so i figured it was a goods book to read. Richard Riley Moncrief lives in Boston and is going into seventh grade. He loves everything about baseball and his favorite team is the Red Sox. The year that Richard enters seventh grade , a new boy moves to town. He is from Dominica and his name is Napoleon Charlie Ellis. The only sport he knew how to play was cricket. THroughout the story, Richard teaches his new best friend, Napoleon, how to play baseball and get rid of his old cricket habits. They go to the batting cages to work on their skills. They also play around in the schoolyard and go to Fenway Park a lot. If you're wondering how the term "Gold Dust" comes in, it all starts out with two Red Sox, Fred Lynn and Jim Rice. Their nicknames are the gold dust twins, which encourages the two baseball loving boys to change their nicknames to the gold dust twins. I really liked this book and I would give it 4 stars. It was well written, and Lynch does a good job of describing Richard and Napoleon's experiences when they are playing baseball together. He talks about how the crack of the bat feels, and many other things that baseball related people will know. At first, I wasn't liking the book because it moved slowly, but once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. I would definately reccomend this book to anyone who likes baseball. This book is suitable for all ages.

Awakening!

I really enjoyed this book! There were so many in depth issues, like rascism and friendship. It really awakened me as to how prevalent rascism is today and how we can prevent it. As you proceed, some things don't happen as you expect it to be, which leads me to say that Chris Lynch is a great author. Even though the summary mentions baseball, the book has barely anything to do with it - it mainly focuses on issues that everybody understands. Great book!