Catch by Will Leitch can be loosely defined as a coming of age story for boys. Following the summer journey of the main character Tim Temples, this book allows the reader to follow along as Tim struggles with whether or not he wants to go to college, or stay in his small town to work.
From the first page, I realized that this was a mature read and definitely NOT meant for middle school libraries. There are quite a few scenes that discuss sex, sexual behavior, masturbation etc. throughout the novel, and while it may not be explicitly written, its quite clear what’s going on (especially on page 5 with excerpts such as “Stacy Stallings, who has hiked her gown up so far I can see her purple thong – with a tiny cloth rose attached – at the top of her thigh.”
Overall, not a bad read but not one of my favourites. I feel like this would be a good book for young boys in high school who are struggling in grade 12. The reading level is low, and while the content is a bit raunchy at times, I feel that a lot of boys who are not academic could connect with this and find a bit of wisdom in it’s pages that college, while it’s not for everybody, is always an option and you might even decide you like it.
Overall this book gets a 2/5, purely for its inability to be used for my purpose in the middle school class and the sheer volume of sexual content I would be afraid to use this book in the classroom.