Cal Cameron by Day, Spider-Man by Night

by Ann Edwards Cannon

A popular football quarterback risks his social status at school when he befriends a new girl named Marti.

Genres: Young Adult

133 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

My name is Ann Edwards ("A. E.") Cannon, and I write books for young readers, as well as a weekly column for the Deseret News. I also teach creative writing and work as a bookseller at the famous King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City. My husband, Ken, and I have five (count 'em) sons, two daughters-in-law, no grandchildren (not yet, anyway) two parakeets, one parrot, two cats, and two dogs. One of the dogs weighs (no kidding) 160 pounds.

Reviews

[Sharon Buxton · Rating 3 out of 5]

C+. fiction, YA; boy befriends loner; from stash, discard

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a tendency to be rather forthcoming with my thoughts about the books I read. Occasionally, I have thoughts about how unabashed I may have been. For example, sometimes an author will come across my blog. When that happens, I reread what I've written about their book. With the most recent time this has happened, I reread the review to discover that I didn't say anything positive about the book. And I felt bad about that, because the book wasn't bad; it was just mediocre. But more than that, I felt bad because I've met this author before (maybe a couple times even) and she is wonderful and nice. So I decided that I would remedy this by reading one of her other books.

Hence Cal Cameron. I'm actually a bit surprised that I hadn't read this particular book before, but I'm glad I hadn't. You see, it's nice to come across something that is older. It's oddly refreshing. It's nice to have a story that's told rather straight forwardly. It's nice to have normal characters who aren't riddled with dysfunction and abnormality. The writing is good. The characterization is good. Actually, this is how good the characterization is—Cannon actually got me to be sympathetic toward and like a quarterback. That in and of itself is a feat worth commending. I really like how she walked us through his growth to where he becomes a better, truly likable person.

Ben tells me that he thinks I'll also like Charlotte's Rose, despite my strong misgivings toward pioneer stories. (Really, if you have read as many pioneer manuscript submissions as I have, you'd have your misgivings about pioneer stories as well. Just ask Katie.) So maybe I'll pick that one up sometime soon.

[JS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cal Cameron is your typical football jock who really isn’t a jerk but succumbs to his best friends’ jerky tendencies. Then he meets Marti, a girl who doesn’t seem to care about what anyone else thinks. They become friends when she jogs by his house every day. By the end of the book, he has lost his “cool” friends, but become a much nicer and more caring person. And she has joined the track team, learning about making friends. Of course, in the end, Marti has to move away and they promise to keep in touch. The story is incredibly typical--I could list movie after movie, book after book, with the exact same plot. Still, it’s entertaining. It’s not a deep or moving read, but it’s funny and well written. I enjoyed Marti’s t-shirt collection, particularly “Meet the Marx Brothers: Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo, and Karl.” Also, it was interesting because it was set in Provo but not blatantly Mormon (though the author is Mormon). Good for a few laughs.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I want really sure about this book. I kind of really disliked the main character. A lot. But then you start to learn more about him and you really start to care about him and feel for him. By the end, I really liked him and found him interesting. o like that his character development was a really show build.

[Cynthia Sillitoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting title. Cal is a football jock who falls in love and changes to become a nicer person. Very YA, but a good read.

[Mim-Is-Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, wow! The title of this book just came to me and I remember reading it a lot when I was younger!
Loved it.