Review of Billy Jones's Father

[Jaidyn Taylor]

This book sounds applicable to those who love sports, who have experienced abuse, or those who want to read about the strength of others to overcome trials. Your review made this sound inspiring and interesting. Thank you for it!

[Gillian Walter]

I watch sports, but I rarely read them. However, this book sounds interesting for it uses sports to teach vital lessons on coaching and parenting. Nice review.

[Da_JumogM]

This book sounds both interesting and satisfying. I like how the characters were described. Scotty sounds like the villain of the book. I also like that the book used some sort of playfulness to discuss serious matters. Great review.

[Paula Rocha]

The plot sounds very interesting. The effects of trauma caused by abusive coaches are often underestimated by sports enthusiasts. This book sounds promising as it explores how such experiences can influence one's attitudes towards the sport and their teaching methods. Since Arnold and Billy are fully immersed in the baseball culture within their community, and considering the fact that Arnold's abusive coach happens to be his own father, the development of their story is bound to be intense and deeply emotional. Grabbed my free book at KU and just can't wait to meet Sara, Arnold and Billy. I guess I could skip meeting Scotty, though.

[mark liu]

Glad to see a book that makes learning about the world of sports in a simple and accessible way.

[Omneya Shakeep]

That's an interesting plot that highlights a pressing issue in the sports field, especially with children as participants. The amount of pressure put on them to do well causes anxiety and depression in many cases, which is sad. The author picked a distinctive aspect of the sports community to present, which is admirable. Thanks for this excellent review!

[Ogidor Chinasa]

"Billy Jones's Father And the Apple Tree" offers a captivating exploration of sports culture and parental influence in Torrid Hills. The book's engaging narratives and accessible writing style create an enjoyable reading experience. I'm intrigued by the themes and look forward to delving into this insightful story.
Congratulations the author on the BOTD

[rusyalana]

The book sounds interesting and pretty heartwarming. Living up to someone's expectations is really tough, and wrong. I hope Arnold will understand that and won't do the same mistake with his own son. It will be interesting to figure out what Arnold will do. Congratulations on becoming BOTD!

[Jennifer Coxon]

The author has a way with his characters that makes you either love them or hate them as per his intention. It is very well written in that way. However, I don't find the storyline appealing.

[Kenesha Latoya Fowler]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your review. I'm not sure that this is a book I'd like to read myself, but you did a great job highlighting the interesting things in the book. Well done!

[Ogunkoya Mayowa]

This book seems to be based on sport historical fiction. The book talks about how Scotty always belittles his son Arnold, comparing his baseball skills unfavorably to his own. But after Arnold became a father he decided to train his son, Billy, and make him excel in athlete. I like how the characters were well developed. Nice review.

[Annette Boateng]

I am not sure that just because one's father was or is abusive a child will grow to be like that parent without ask relevant questions as in how or why a parent is or became abusive. However l am pretty sure this story will serve us alot of lessons readers can learn from. Great review.

[Kaitlyn Wadsworth]

When I started reading this book I felt it came across as a lovely family story. The family moved from Texas to Torrid hills. The town needed a doctor, one of the daughters excelled in sports and recreation, the other had different abilities. Some descriptions made me laugh. The author has a way with words! Loved the last chapter in the sample about Emma. You go girl!

After reading the blurb in Amazon about the book I realized the premise is a very valid one. It surprised me, as I had no idea from the sample, what the story was leading up to. Wow. Parent's often push their children to excel in sports and promote competition. Gone is the natural ability and the fun. In is the pressure and dog-eat-dog mentality that can ruin lives. Such a good lesson. Great review written up as well.

Written in Contemporary Fiction while remaining a true story makes the story readable and the characters come to life.

I found the the word 'would' proliferated in the first few chapters I read.
After one of the chapters, I saw a footnote in italics with an asterisk. I spent time looking for the presence of the one in the text to check what the added point referred to. Footnotes like that will often refer to the sources of a quote. Any other point can often be added into the story at the time. I couldn't understand why this hadn't been done?
Another clarification which may have required research on the part of the Author; Scotty seemed to be showing symptoms of Bipolar Disorder. Maybe this is covered in more detail in a future chapter, but I don't think so. The author stated it had 'resulted' from the war background of Scotty. This is how it seems to someone who doesn't understand much about it and is relying on hearsay. That's ok. But to be accurate it needs to be that the war experiences 'triggered' the problem. The reason being that, a person already has the inherited predisposition and the bad experience triggers off the manifestation of the symptoms. Despite these observations, well done on BOTD. 5 out of 5 from me too.

[Achor Chinemerem]

"I felt a sense of satisfaction with the way his (Scotty's) story concluded, considering the harm he inflicted on those around him". The moral lesson learned is that most times, persuasion could cause more harm than good. Nice book. Congratulations on BOTD!

[azza lia]

This sounds to be very intense. Sports are something that children would like to enjoy but in this scenario it might feel like a burden. It is so sad and irritating to witness such parenting that consistently pressure their children beyond their limits and become emotionally or physically abusive when they failed parents' expectation. I hope Arnold won't do the same mistake. Thank you for an excellent review.