Restart by Gordon Korman

Chase Ambrose is an eighth grade stud, a star football player, and very popular. He's also a feared prankster and school bully....only Chase doesn't know his past history. Falling from his roof, he gets a severe concussion and has amnesia blanking out all of his notorious past. He has a lot to sort out, wondering why a girl dumped frozen yogurt on his head, why kids at school move out of his way looking at him in fear, and least of all, bullying a kid at school so severely that the boy's parents have sent him to boarding school. 

Slowly, Chase is able to show people that he is not the same. He can't play football, he joins the video club, and volunteers at an assisted living facility. He eventually makes amends with many he has bullied...until everything falls apart.

Told in the voice of Chase, one of his friends, and those he has bullied, the story moves quickly with a few twists and surprises. There's plenty of humor, but the affects of bullying on its victims play the center role here. My only issue is that the story would have seemed better placed in a high school. The role of football, and the behaviors of Chase and his buddies just didn't ring middle school to me, having taught in a middle school for 40 years.

Mark's Book Picks Score: 4

Reading Level: 5.1 • Interest Level: 4-7 • AR Points: 9 • Lexile Level: 730 • Publisher: Scholastic • Pages: 243 • Copyright: 2018 • ISBN: 978-1-338-05380-7 • Available in Perma-Bound Binding

CYRM 2020/21 Nominee, Intermediate