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Like We Care
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Plot Summary of Like We Care
"

Bancroft, Sept 2004, 23.95, 272 pp.
ISBN 1890862363

Seventeen year old Joel Karstan hopes to go to college on a baseball scholarship but he takes an unexpected time-out from playing when his jaw is broken when he is hit by a ball. After six weeks of having his jaw wired shut, the popular teen is hanging out at the Happy Snack convenience store when he realizes that the managers treats him and the other teens like garbage. With the help of his friend Todd Noland he organizes a boycott that grows bigger every day and finally attracts the attraction of television executive Annie McCullough.

She works for a rock Cable music station that makes gangsta rap seen like lullabies. She finds Kyle charismatic and believes he and his protest would play very well on her television station. Joel and his boycott grab the attention of teens across the nation who start boycotting stores that exploit teenagers as a demographic group. Todd and Joel's next project is getting their black history teacher elected to the white city council by getting the 18-23 age group to come out and vote. They prove that teenagers can make a difference.

Tom Matthews satirizes thing in a way that is simultaneously funny and sad. LIKE WE CARE is a story of two students who know how to play the system and make it work for them. Annie goes from executive flunky to detached observer to active participant. If teenagers ever truly organized they would have plenty of economic and political clout. This is a refreshingly original work that has a very special appeal to the younger crowd and anyone who remembers Wild in the Streets.

Harriet Klausner
"

Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Like We Care
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - upbeat
Time/era of story - present (2000-2010)
Kids growing up/acting up? Yes
Political/social activism Yes
Plotlet: - general liberal/left wing activism
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Age group of kid(s) in story: - high school

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - student
Age: - a teen
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - society

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Northeast

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
Unusual Style: - a lot of play on words - a lot of stream of consciousness - No single main character?
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
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Tom Matthews Resident Scholar Profiles

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Harriet Klausner  

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