King Arthur Movie Tristan

title: Pay It Forward

author: Catherine Ryan Hyde

pages: 311

genre: fiction

published: 1999

first line: Maybe someday I'll have kids of my own.



rated: 4 1/2 out of 5





Twelve year old Trevor McKinney receives an extra credit class assignment from his social studies teacher, Mr. Reuben St. Clair.
'Think of an idea for world change, and put it into action.'


Trevor comes up with an idea. Paying it forward. It's very simple, you think of three people, then do something good for these people, something big. In return for your favor, each of these three people then do something amazing for three other people. And so on and so forth....until it multiplies and there is so much more good in the world from people paying it forward.

'And yet at first people needed to know more. Somehow it was not enough that a boy barely in his teens was able to change the world. Somehow it had to be known why the world could change at just that moment, why it could not have changed a moment sooner, what Trevor brought to that moment, and why it was the very thing that moment required.'

Trevor's mom, Arlene is raising Trevor by herself and working two jobs to pay the bills. Trevor ends up wanting to get Arlene and Reuben together. Arlene & Reuben are opposites, he is an educated black man who was injured in Vietnam, half of his face is scarred badly. Arlene is a recovering alcoholic and she feels that she is not good enough for Reuben. Yet the two of them form a bond.



Trevor thinks his idea of paying it forward didn't work out, but little does he know, it's being called 'The Movement' and has been making a worldwide effect. Reporter Chris Chandler is trying to find the person who started The Movement, he is shocked when he finds out it was started by 12 year old Trevor as part of an extra credit assignment.





The storyline and the idea of 'Paying it Forward' grab you from the start. This is all about how just one person can truly make a difference.


The movie version 'Pay It Forward' stayed pretty true to the book. There were some differences between the two but I really enjoyed both. This book will be definitely be listed as one of my top favorite reads in 2008.




I posted about this book before, here.

In honor of Pay It Forward, I am holding a special prize drawing. As I posted before, it wouldn't be book related. So after thinking about what would be a good prize to post, besides a book, I came up with an idea.


As some of you may know, I crochet. It's my other obsession, besides reading. So, I am raffling off one of my hand crocheted scarves on my blog. I know, it's the middle of summer, but hey, the Fall weather will be here before you know it and this scarf will come in handy. It's very soft & warm, I promise.







Want a better chance of winning? Read on....


* To enter to win the scarf, just comment to this post.

* If you have a blog, post about this contest, leave me the link, and I will enter your name 2 extra times in the drawing.


* If you also blog about the book 'Pay It Forward', I'll enter your name 2 extra times in the drawing.


If you do all of the above, that's your name entered 5 times in the drawing.




* For every person you refer to my blog who mentions your name, I will enter you one extra time in the drawing per person referred (even if you yourself don't have a blog, email your friends and refer them that way). The person you refer, needs to tell me you referred by posting in the comments section.




I will draw the winning name on August 15th.
Good luck!

Pay It Forward is a wondrous and moving story about Trevor McKinney, a twelve-year-old boy in a small California town who accepts the challenge that his teacher gives his class, a chance to earn extra credit by coming up with a plan to change the world for the better--and to put that plan into action.



The plan that Trevor comes up with is so simple--and so naive--that when others learn of it they are dismissive. Even Trevor himself begins to doubt when his pay it forward plan seems to founder on a combination of bad luck and the worst of human nature.



What is his idea? Trevor chooses three people for whom he will do a favor, and then when those people thank him and ask how they might pay him back, he will tell them that instead of paying him back they should each pay it forward by choosing three people for whom they can do favors, and in turn telling those people to Pay it Forward. It's nothing less than a human chain letter of kindness and good will. But will it work?

'Pay It Forward' is one of my favorite movies. When it first came out, hubby & I watched it together and it quickly became one of our favorites. I had no idea this movie was a book.











So you can imagine my surprise when author Catherine Ryan Hyde emailed me wondering if I'd be interested in reviewing any of her books. When I visited her website, and browsed her books, I realized she wrote 'Pay It Forward'. What a nice surprise! I told her I'd love to read and review a few of her books including this one. And she was kind enough to send me my own personally signed copy.





Her single request was that I 'tell at least one other person who didn't know it was a book' .

I've been telling waaaay more than just one person about this book.
I also want to 'Pay It Forward'. Soooo....I will be raffling off a special prize on my blog. It's not going to be my usual book prize, it will be something different. Stay tuned for that post.





Thank you Miss Hyde! I treasure my copy and my hubby was impressed when I showed him...lol


I will be reading & reviewing this book on my blog soon.







visit the authors websites:

http://www.cryanhyde.com/


http://www.myspace.com/catherineryanhyde



Pay It Forward Movement