By: Edward Bloor Publisher: Harcourt Paperbacks Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Harcourt Paperbacks Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 496 Publication Date: April 01, 2007 Reading Level: Young Adult
Roberta Ritter hopes to be a journalist one day, but for now she's stuck working at her family's arcade in a dilapidated shopping mall. From her vantage point behind the counter, she sees all the goings-on at the mall--and some things she sees are disturbing. Racism, dirty politics, and drugs are all part of the scene. Roberta doesn't like it, but she's just a fifteen-year-old--so what can she do?
Roberta is surprised to find out just how much power she does have. To hone her journalistic skills, she begins to investigate hate crimes at the mall. In the process, she uncovers some shocking information concerning her own mother's death. And as she learns to stand up for herself and the truth, Roberta becomes the kind of person who makes things happen--a crusader.
Amazon.com Review: A steamy, swampy Florida setting and the threat of a repressed memory are two of the elements in Edward Bloor's first young adult novel, Tangerine, that made it an instant suburban gothic classic. His follow-up, Crusader, delves even deeper into the dark side of suburbia, exposing racism, virtual violence, and even murder behind the sunny facade of a Florida strip mall.
Fifteen-year-old Roberta works hard every afternoon and weekend in the family business, a virtual reality arcade in the West End Mall. She keeps her mind off the fact that the arcade is slowly going under and that her father ignores her existence, but she cannot ignore the fact of her mother's brutal murder seven years ago. Roberta's quest to find her mother's killer weaves together several skillfully constructed subplots, including a shady political scheme to ruin the mall, real and imagined hate crimes against an Arab store owner, and how the Crusader itself, a virtual reality game, serves as the catalyst that ignites and unites these seemingly unrelated factors in Roberta's life. Bloor's brooding, densely plotted page turner is an incredibly original novel that will engage teens on several levels. Though it is almost 400 pages long, the nonstop action and many startling revelations will keep teens transfixed until the very last sentence. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert
Courtesy of Teens Read Too A Crusader is someone who supports a certain cause and a Crusader is also a knight in the 11th-13th centuries who fought to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims. Both of these definitions come into play in this long but wonderful mystery.
Roberta Ritter is a shy and lonely girl. She is plain but only because she doesn't really care how she looks. Roberta's father owns, along with his brother, a virtual reality arcade in a failing mall in Florida. The family used to have an arcade on the strip, but due to the murder of her mother they sold that franchise and opened this one.
Roberta doesn't really have a relationship with her father. He is away a lot and so Roberta and her family act as the store owners at the mall where the arcade is located. At the opening of the story, the arcade is getting a new experience in the form of a Crusader. When violence happens at the mall and an Arab is attacked, Roberta becomes a Crusader to foil whoever is doing this and also decides to find out, along the way, who murdered her mother.
This book is long, 591 pages, but excellent! The characterization of the major players was spot on. I felt like I know Roberta and she is one of my good friends. I really cared about what was going on with every character and the storyline was interesting. It wove in politics and the driving force of the media. There was dysfunction everywhere but there was also true love and caring. I recommend this book wholeheartedly!
Reviewed by: Marta Morrison
Crusader by Edward Bloor Roberta Ritter is a plain shy girl without many friends. She works at a family owned virtual reality arcade shop in a failing mall. Roberta sets out to save the mall and find out who killed her mother seven years ago. She does solve the crime (I won't tell you who did it)and saves the mall. This was an excellent book, at 591 pages you would expect some down time. But I couldn't put this book down. Excellently written. I would recommend this book!
Great read for all ages I purchased this book for my son's school book report but I like it as well, and this particular book is very hard to find. Even at the public library, there are only a few copies. A definite addition for our home library.
Fantastic Book! Well, it seems that i'm the youngest kid reveiwing(5th grade), but i agree with most of the other reviewers. Crusader is a fantastic novel, telling of 15 year old Roberta's life, who's mother was murdered 7 yeaars ago. The thing is, the murderer was never caught. Now working in an arcade of virtual reality experiences in West End Mall, a burst of hate crimes has hit the mall and Roberta wants to solve these, along with the long since closed case of Roberta's mother. The things I loved about this book were that the murderer and person that did the hate crimes were not who you would expect. The murderer was actually someone that wasn't even in the book MUCH. He/she still was, just not much. Another fantastic thing was that it was really emotional as one character died after another. From Robert's mother to Hawg to Ironman's almost death to Mrs. Weiss's death. Also, when Roberta discovers who told the murderer what to do, it was really panful to discover it was someone close to her. Especially when she told him/her to never contact her agian. Another great thing was that it kept you guessing until they told your who it was. I would habe never guessed that ? was the murderer until they told me. There were a few insignificant clues, though. I loved this book and I hope you do too. I know this isn't really about Crusader, but I loved this book almost as much as Pirates by Celia Rees, which is really exciting. Buh-Buy!
Perhaps my favorite book ever I believe the first time that I read Crusader was when I was in 7th or 8th grade, and immediately fell in love. Since then (I'm a Junior in High School now), I've probably reread it at least three times, and each read was just as thrilling. Bloor has become one of my favorite authors, and Crusader is my absolute favorite book by him. He has such a unique handle on writing, an incredible knack for character development, and creates extremely unique, yet oddly relatable characters. This is one of my top choices for the next book-to-movie conversion, if they could do it justice of course. Absolutely incredible read, don't pass up the opportunity; go to a library or book store as soon as you can and pick up a copy. If you're here to see whether it's worth reading, all the positive reviews (including mine here) should be reason enough to convince you, it's definitely worth it.
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