Overview

George Choogart has just stepped off the boat to Manhattan. In England, he was a teenage star reporter. But he'll have to prove himself all over again if he wants an American newspaper job. When George stumbles across the Woodrat, an underground boxing club, he realizes he's found his next story. The Woodrat's owner shows George a world of corruption?a world that might be too dangerous for either of them. Woodrat staffers are disappearing. Big Jim Dickinson, one of New York's wealthiest men, might be to blame. But if George wants to stop Big Jim, he'll have to conquer the boxing ring first.

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9781467721639

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Reviews

Although the series is aimed at reluctant readers, it is exciting enough to interest voracious readers as well. The Bareknuckle series would be a worthy addition to middle school libraries and libraries serving the tween population. --VOYA -- (4/1/2014 12:00:00 AM) Sacks nicely captures the chaos of the time and place and weaves a fast-paced, action-packed tale. . . . Lots of action and low page count should propel reluctant readers along. --Kirkus Reviews -- (2/1/2014 12:00:00 AM)

Corruption is everywhere in 1870s New York City, and George Choogart wants to be the journalist who exposes it. George arrives from England with a job offer from the New York Times and, as a test of his skills, is assigned the task of finding a story so new as to be unfamiliar to the editor. He thinks he has found it in Lew Mayflower's Woodrat Saloon, where he goes undercover as a fighter to learn more about illegal bare-knuckle boxing matches. Politician Big Jim Dickinson finds fighters there for use in his secret and very crooked matches. Although George is in the thick of the intrigue and danger, it is female reporter Holly Quine who gets the scoop. Sacks nicely captures the chaos of the time and place and weaves a fast-paced, action-packed tale. Detailed descriptions of the brawls and bare-knuckle fights make up the bulk of the text. Several peripheral characters, while quite colorful, appear to have little purpose. In the end, George leaves New York and heads west, thus paving the way for a series of tales set in the Woodrat with new fighters and their back stories and penned by different authors. Publishing simultaneously are The Giant, by Jonathan Mary-Todd, Fighter's Alley, by Heather Duffy Stone, and Lightning's Run, by Gabriel Goodman. Lots of action and low page count should propel reluctant readers along. --Kirkus Reviews -- Journal Bareknuckle is an exciting new hi-lo series perfect for male, reluctant readers. Each book tells a different story set in an underground boxing club in the 1870s. Slavery and immigration are backstories in Lightning's Run. Jewish immigrant Hiram and former slave Lightning join forces at the Woodrat to fight against bullies, both big and small. In The Big Fix readers are introduced to underground boxing when young journalist George Choogart travels to New York to uncover corruption in a post-Tammany city. The Woodrat is established as a popular fighting club. Fighter's Alley tells the story of a young boy determined to enter a high-stakes boxing tournament and try to keep it a secret from his father, who is running for mayor. Although boys will be most interested in the very violent fighting, each book also throws in some history and moral lessons. Descriptions of the fights are very visual and auditory and suck in readers who love picturing loud cracks as bare knuckles hit broken noses. Squeamish readers might not be as thrilled, but most boys will be drawn to the fighting sections. Although the series is aimed at reluctant readers, it is exciting enough to interest voracious readers as well. The Bareknuckle series would be a worthy addition to middle school libraries and libraries serving the tween population. --VOYA -- Journal

Corruption is everywhere in 1870s New York City, and George Choogart wants to be the journalist who exposes it. George arrives from England with a job offer from the New York Times and, as a test of his skills, is assigned the task of finding a story so new as to be unfamiliar to the editor. He thinks he has found it in Lew Mayflower's Woodrat Saloon, where he goes undercover as a fighter to learn more about illegal bare-knuckle boxing matches. Politician Big Jim Dickinson finds fighters there for use in his secret and very crooked matches. Although George is in the thick of the intrigue and danger, it is female reporter Holly Quine who gets the scoop. Sacks nicely captures the chaos of the time and place and weaves a fast-paced, action-packed tale. Detailed descriptions of the brawls and bare-knuckle fights make up the bulk of the text. Several peripheral characters, while quite colorful, appear to have little purpose. In the end, George leaves New York and heads west, thus paving the way for a series of tales set in the Woodrat with new fighters and their back stories and penned by different authors. Publishing simultaneously are The Giant, by Jonathan Mary-Todd, Fighter's Alley, by Heather Duffy Stone, and Lightning's Run, by Gabriel Goodman. Lots of action and low page count should propel reluctant readers along. --Kirkus Reviews --Journal Bareknuckle is an exciting new hi-lo series perfect for male, reluctant readers. Each book tells a different story set in an underground boxing club in the 1870s. Slavery and immigration are backstories in Lightning's Run. Jewish immigrant Hiram and former slave Lightning join forces at the Woodrat to fight against bullies, both big and small. In The Big Fix readers are introduced to underground boxing when young journalist George Choogart travels to New York to uncover corruption in a post-Tammany city. The Woodrat is established as a popular fighting club. Fighter's Alley tells the story of a young boy determined to enter a high-stakes boxing tournament and try to keep it a secret from his father, who is running for mayor. Although boys will be most interested in the very violent fighting, each book also throws in some history and moral lessons. Descriptions of the fights are very visual and auditory and suck in readers who love picturing loud cracks as bare knuckles hit broken noses. Squeamish readers might not be as thrilled, but most boys will be drawn to the fighting sections. Although the series is aimed at reluctant readers, it is exciting enough to interest voracious readers as well. The Bareknuckle series would be a worthy addition to middle school libraries and libraries serving the tween population. --VOYA --Journal

Author Information

Nathan Sacks is a writer and journeyman scholar born and raised in Ames, IA. He graduated from Cornell College in 2009 with departmental honors in English and received his MA in English Literature from NYU in 2012. His areas of interest include literature, music, culture, politics and film. You can read his writings about music (along with contributions from fellow Lerner music author Aaron Mendelson) at the Rockaliser blog (http: //rockaliser.blogspot.com). He also enjoys playing guitar, comic books and matching wits with his rebellious cat Uzi. His first book American Hip-Hop: Rappers, DJs and Hard Beats, is a contribution to Lerner's American Music Milestones series. He hopes to write many more books in the future, and dreams of one day adding novels, screenplays and albums to his repertoire of creative accomplishments.

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