What Hearts

By Bruce Brooks and Brooks Bruce

Book Overview

After his mother divorces his father and remarries, Asa's sharp intellect and capacity for forgiveness help him deal with the instabilities of his new world.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060211326
• ISBN13: 9780060211325
• Release Date: October 1992
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 194 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

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".

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.