The Extreme Team: Rock On

This book was written by Matt Christopher and illustrated by Michael Koelsch. The genre of this story is realistic fiction and children's chapter book. The major theme through the book was bullying and overcoming fears. The primary character of the book was X and the secondary characters were Jonas, his friend, and Frank, the bully. This book has not received any awards. It was published by Little, Brown, and Company.

The book was about a teenage boy, X, who seems to be good at any sport. While snowboarding he runs into a bully, Frank, who wants to challenge him to a race. X wins the race. Then the girl who is in charge of the slops invites the boys to go on a trip with them to rock climb at the mall. All of X's friends are excited, but X seems unsure. That night at home he discovers he has a serious fear of heights. This makes X even more nervous about rock climbing. He is so scared that his friends will make fun of him that he goes on the trip anyway. When he begins to rock climb he does very well, until he looks down. Then the instructor has to help him down. X is very embarrassed. He is worried his friends will not like him anymore because he was a "coward." After talking with his mom, X goes and explains what happens to his friends, and finds out they did not think twice about it. At the slop the next day, X runs into Frank again. Frank makes fun of him for being scared and once confronted by X, everyone discovers that Frank is scared of heights, too.
I would use this book in my classroom to address bullying. I think it shows in a fun way that students can relate to. I think all children, around 2nd grade, would enjoy reading this book as a group of independently.