Rhino’s Run

Gr 8 Up–Lipsyte’s latest fails to make a touchdown. Ronald “Rhino” Rhinehart is barely a junior and the captain of the beloved football team in the small, mostly conservative town of Woodhaven. His goal is to make it to Division 1 football for college (and get out of the town). The plan was going perfectly until the day of a protest led by Josh, when Rhino’s temper got the best of him and he punched Josh in the face. Now, both are in Group, an assortment of students who are avoiding suspension (or worse) by sharing their feelings, keeping a journal, and trying to learn to get along. Rhino struggles with the concepts that go against what he has been taught, until one day one of the members brings a gun to school. As the captain of the team and de facto school leader, Rhino is the one everybody else looks to. While Lipsyte reliably infuses a strong message in his writing, he hits readers over their heads with too many tropes. Every character is a stereotype, providing a very skewed view of what could be realistic situations. Adding to this, some of the actions—washing Percocet down with beer, being careless with concussions—do not have serious consequences, focusing instead on the social issues.