Beaten

Surviving Southside

by Suzanne Weyn

Paige Robinson is thrilled when she starts dating Ty, the football team's star running back, but when Ty hits her out of anger and is arrested for assault, Paige realizes their relationship is not perfect and that if Ty really loved her he would not hurt her.

Genres: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Family, Abuse, Relationships

99 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2010

About the author

Suzanne Weyn grew up in Williston Park, Long Island, New York. She has three sisters and a brother. As a girl, she was very interested in theatre and in reading. Louisa May Alcott was her favorite author, but she also read every Sherlock Holmes story. Suzanne lived pretty close to the ocean and going to Jones Beach was one of her favorite activities. Even today, if she goes too long without seeing the ocean, she starts feeling restless.

Suzanne now lives in upper New York State with her husband, two teen daughters and Abby the cat. Her house is at the edge of the woods and is nearly 200 years old. She graduated from State University of New York at Binghamton and received her master's degree from Pace University. She teaches part-time at City College in New York.

Suzanne's other books for Simon Pulse include South Beach Sizzle, a romantic comedy written with Diana Gonzalez. Her novels for the Simon Pulse line "Once Upon a Time" are The Night Dance: A Retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, Water Song: A Retelling of the Frog Prince, and The Crimson Thread: A Retelling of Rumplestiltskin. She very much enjoys rethinking these classic tales from an original point of view, always looking for the real psychological underpinning of the story. Suzanne is currently doing revisions on her fourth book in the line, which will be coming in 2009.

Suzanne's other recent novels are include The Bar Code Tattoo (2004) and its sequel, The Bar Code Rebellion (2006). The Bar Code Tattoo was selected by the American Library Assoc. (ALA) as a 2005 Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers and was a 2007 Nevada Library nominee for Best Young Adult Fiction. It is currently translated into German and was nominated for the 2007 Jugenliteraturpreis for Young People's Literature.

Reviews

[Jennifer Lavoie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was a little disappointed with this book. I was about to give it a three, but decided not to. While it is high interest for teens and the topic - sadly - is very relevant, there were too many errors in the book that distracted me. The book is short, a novella really, and a very fast read for most. Paige has little growth and she angered me, but at the same time I see this as being true. I was angry at Ty for the way he reacted, too, but again... true.

What bothered me were the errors. There was missing punctuatin, misspelled words, and the back cover blurb gives the characters different names than are in the book. I felt it was poorly edited, and it frustrated me. A Scholastic book should not look like this.

[Tiasia Saunders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good..... I love books whose authors aren't afraid to be more realistic

[Beeky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beaten is a violent book by Suzanne Weyn. Beaten book is about head cheerleader Keah Robinson and star football player Ty Hendricks. First Keah thinks "the love of her life" Ty is such a sweet loving caring boy loves her so Keah drops all her friends so her and Ty could be together 24/7. But then everything takes a viciously turn when Ty gets frustrated and HITS Keah! Keah's mom see's the bruise and ask her what happened she said she fell when her cheer leading squad did a pyramid at practice. But then it's the play-offs for the football team and Ty is very nervous. Come the day of the game and they lose! Ty is very frustrated and Keah keeps bugging him and he's crabby! So Ty and Keah are driving home and he's yelling at her then comes a stop sign and Keah jumps out Ty gets mad and gets out of the car and yells at Keah and Ty keeps yelling and Keah keeps refusing so Ty hit Keah. Then an old man comes and yells at Ty. Ty keeps hitting Keah then the old man said he called the cops. Ty finally quit and gets in his car and speeds off! Emt's come then Keah's mom comes and they bring her to the hospital. Keah finally wakes up the investagaters came in and tlak to Keah and her mom they ask if they want to press charges Keah says no and her mom said yes! So they went to court and charges were pressed etc. This is the book "Beaten", - Megisahbeek Rogers :)

[Mrs. Wegener · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super quick read! Also, the topics in it are tough, but need to be discussed!

[Allison Heitkamp · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book "Beaten" by Suzanne Weyn. This book was a super easy book to read and understand. The book however isn't very detailed and that is why I gave it a three out of five. The book is about a high school girl who has a football star boyfriend. Her boyfriends dad is an alcoholic and abusive. She thinks her boyfriend will never be like that but she is wrong. Read the book to find out what happens to their relationship.

[Summer · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked this book and i thought ty was the worst boyfriend ever, and when you read this book it makes you dislike the narrator because of her decesions

[Ava Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

this story is about a girl an her name is paige and she is dating a boy named tyler. This was an interesting story because at the begining of the story they seemed like they were the best couple in the school.But then one dayafter the football game tyler was being rude to paige and one of the other cheerleaders came up. Her name was lara and she did not like paige at all but paige didnt like her either.then after she talked to tyler everthing was diffrent. then a few days after that tyler seemed to not care about paige anymore. one day they skiped class and on thier way to get food tyler slapped paige and pushed her to the ground.then a few weeks later they had the playoff game and they lost. On thier way home paige got made at tyler and got out of the car and was goning to walk home.tyler told her to come back but she ignored him.so tyler got mad and started to beat her up. then an old man came by and called the cops and he got arrested and she went to the hospital.
I really liked this book it was a very good book. i wanted to keep reading to see what would happen next and if she would ever break up with him or walk away.i also really liked it because she was trying to do a million things at once for tyler but nothing for herself. and he didnt treat her righht do i waited to see if she ever did anything for herself.

[Brook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beaten does a good job of putting the reader in the position of a victim in an abusive relationship. It gives a lot of insight into how someone would be so willing to put up with an abusive partner. I think it is hard for a lot of people to realize why anyone would stay in an abusive relationship, and I believe that this book gives us a good start to being able to understand why. It can be eye opening for anyone, but young teenagers especially. I highly recommend this book for anyone who has young kids. This book talks about some uncomfortable topics, but we need to be aware of the problem in order to avoid it.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Paige is dating Ty, a moody football player who has his future riding on getting a football scholarship to college. He has a rough home life and definitely some anger issues. Paige tries to stay upbeat for him, but that doesn't seem to help. Then he hits her. She hides it from her mom and friends and knows it will only be once. Then Ty loses a big game and he really takes it out on Paige. Her mother presses charges and Paige has to accept he's never going to change.

[Felicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short read but a good message on domestic violence. It shows how easy it is to get caught in the trap they set & how easy it is to get gas lighted by them & how even after somehow you still are making excuses for them. Luckily in this story she finally learns that she deserves better before it's too late which sadly many don't learn in time. Like I said it was very short I think i read it in less than 45 minutes but enjoyed it & would definitely recommend it.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m an adult who sometimes likes to read YA. This novella is a fast read(@1 hour), written well & clearly got it’s message across. I found it odd that the back cover has the main character as Keah Robinson & her name in the story is Paige Martin. Seems like a silly mistake for an editor to miss.

[Olivia Newton]

Beaten is a really interesting book it shows Paige being miss-treated by her boyfriend Ty and it kind of shows in some ways how some people just get pushed over the edge but most of all I think most people can probably get a few life lessons out of it.

[Shay Deline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great short read

Short story, but worth reading. All pre-teen and up girls should read this book. Also read a few other of this authors short stories, all are very good.

[Dezaire · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was sad but good.

[Nancy S · Rating 3 out of 5]

An important book for teenage girls, but for an adult reader, it's not like an outline of a book.

[Jersey]

Girl who dates this guy named Ty, Ty gets kinda rude then he starts beating her ty gets sent to jail for assault.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confusing that the outside of the book calls the main character Keah yet inside it’s Paige. But aside from that, a quick read aimed at teens. Good to have in the library.

[Charise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this book way back and didnt review about it because i forgot but now i finally got to it here people. The book Beaten was about a girl who goes out with a guy she thinks he is sweet and kind and like the best boyfriend ever until he gets stressed out and hits her, the first time he hits her is before the big football game. When he hit her she nearly flew across the street because she was outside talking to him trying to make him feel better which obviously did not work. The second time he hit her was after he lost the football game and just starts pounding on her and didnt stop until a like 70 year old man came and stop him, then the boy took off. In the end the girl learned that he was an abuser(she didnt realize it until after is trial).
Now i want to share my opinions on this. Honestly i dont really read books without fantasy stuff and science fiction in it but honestly it was a good book. Now there is some cons to it, sorry people but there are always cons to books so lets get those out of the way
Cons: i was so close to chugging the book at the wall when the girl was said to her mom "please mom dont report him to the police he didnt mean to" i was like, ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME, HE JUST BEAT THE HELL OUT OF YOU AND YOUR SAYING YOUR NOT PRESSING CHARGES!!!!

See only one con now lets go to the
Pros:
I was laughing so hard when she saw him kissing another girl after she and him broke up and she thought "should i warn her about him or should i just walk away" i was like you stay right there sweetie pie let the girl get the skin beat off her because she didnt think the rumors were real so let her get herself in the hospital.

I also liked how she stood up to him and had the courage to break up with him and walk away, i was like you go girl taking charge of your life and your relationships.

In total i give this book a staight 5 stars and reccomend it to YA readers who are willing to put down the suppernatural, fantasy, and science fiction books and pick up something in the now that actually happens in the world.

[Jojobean · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was alright. I felt like it was written half-assed which surprised me because I read a few of Weyn's other books and they were a lot better than this one.

This book dealt with an abusive relationship. Ty, whose a H.S. football player, ends up beating his girlfriend Paige. She makes up excuses for him even after hes arrested for beating her in public.

I wanted to like this book but it breezed through everything so quickly. There were about 23 chapters and each chapter was at most 5 pages each. Time went by very quickly in the book. Weeks passed as you start a new chapter. Paige just seemed fake. She said all the right things a battered women would say but it was without feeling. You don't get to know the characters really well. From one page to the next Ty goes from being a loving caring gentle boyfriend to smacking her in the face. There is no escalation from getting angry and yelling to the eventual abuse that you read about other books. Paige has no growth and continues to make excuses for Ty even while she is testifying against him, saying that she shouldn't have made him mad. She finally realizes on the last page that Ty or any man has no reason to hit her.

I wanted to like this book but I couldn't really. I just felt that if an author is going to tackle such a huge and sensitive issue like this, that it should be done right, not half assed. The book could have been so much more than it is.

This review is also posted on Spantalian's Book Reviews

[Marshay Elijha]

The book I just read was beaten. It was about a girl named Paige who was finally going out with the boy named Ty who she had a crush on. They was all good till one day Ty hit her cause he was mad cause he lost a game. Even since that happen she was scared of him. She would flinch when he got mad. Ty would flirt with other girls but when Paige just talked to another boy as a friend Ty would get all mad. After they lost a big game Ty thought it was if fault so he didn’t want to go to the celebration party but Paige did. Paige didn’t go though cause Ty was her ride to the party and home. When Ty was taking her home Paige got tired of him attitude. At a red light she jumped out the car (that girl crazy). Ty chased after her Paige wouldn’t get back in the car so TY started beating her real bad but I nice old man chase Ty away. Paige was rushed to the hospital. Paige mom was going to press charges so they had to go to court. Even with the charges Paige secretly went to go meet Ty but after that meeting Paige told Ty she never wanted to see him again.
I would recommend this book to girls mostly because boys would just think she stupid for not fighting back. I really liked this book it was a so good the wording and everything. I thing a lot of people would like this book. I think it was smart that Paige said she aint ever want to see him again cause he might beat her again but next time no one would be around to stop him. Paige is really smart for going through with the charges. I hope Ty learned his lesson about what he did.

[Connie Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't want my two stars to deter anyone form this book because I am rating it on the fact I don't think it should be classified as a book but instead as a novella. The book is very short, only 98 pages and it drops us into the action without much chance to get to know the characters. Due to this I felt that they were shallow and trite. Relying heavy on stereo types of high school kids and kids from broken homes. I never got a chance to like the MC Paige, or feel sorry for her and her relationship. Which is awful because she is in a volatile relationship and I don't really care. The protag. Ty has an alcoholic father but we don't really get a chance to see why he may be the way he is. I would love to summarize the story but I already feel as if the story is a summary. Head cheerleader falls for star ftball player. He comes from troubled past and ends up beating her up after a big loss. Although I had to admit Paige was annoying I didn't think there was enough build up for the altercation. I understand it may be accurate for real life but as a reader I wanted a little more. But I would still encourage it to be read. It was from Scholastic books so its intended audience will probably like it. On a side note the book blurb on the back of the book names the main character as Keah Robinson but the character in the book is named Paige. I thought that was a strange oversight.

[Elena Camarena · Rating 3 out of 5]

The novel Beaten by Suzanne Weyn is a short story about a teenage girl being abused by her boyfriend.Paige is the head cheerleader at south side high.Ty is the star running back for the football team.After going over to Ty's house,Paige discovers that both of Ty's parents are alcoholics.Because Ty is nervous about not being recruited for his favorite college,he starts to become aggressive.Paige tries to help Ty with his problems at school and at home.As Paige tries to help Ty with his problems he becomes short tempered.One day as Ty was walking Paige home from school,Ty slapped her.Paige was trying to cheer him up,but Ty wanted her to stop.Because Ty slapped he she feel to the ground hard and the next day had a lot of bruises.After her mother and everyone else saw what had happened to Paige,they began to become worried.When everyone would ask her questions about what had happened to her face,she would lie and said it was because of cheer practice.After Ty lost his football game,Paige tired convincing him to go to a party to help him feel better.They then began to start arguing and Ty strated to punch and slap Paige again.As Ty was punching and slapping Paige,a older man saw him and called the police.This is a very interesting book to read.From the beginning to the end the book was very interesting.

[SCBookGal843 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paige is the head cheerleader at Southside High school and she is dating Ty the star running back. This couple is unstoppable. But everything that looks good on the outside is not good for you. Ty has problems at home. His father is an alcoholic and takes his anger out on him. Ty is under a lot of pressure during this football season with the process of recruitment and Southside having the chance to win the championship game. Ty does not know how to handle his anger and nervousness that he takes it out on Paige in a heated argument. This one hit turns to another and then another; until a chance in encounter after the game put Paige in the hospital. Will this young couple be able to deal with issue or will someone have to deal with the law?
I must say this was a great two hour read. This book is a great for both boys and girls and brings the effect of dating violence to light. These characters are given a real life situation that many teams can see as real and not as something that can never happen to them.

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of several books in the high interest low level reading series Surviving Southside. I would highly recommend this series to struggling readers in grades 7-12. The books in this series are 95-100 pages and boost the reader's confidence by numbering the first page of the novel as page 7. Large font size and wide margins along with an accessible reading level (590L) make this an inviting read for struggling readers.

This novel illustrates the cycle of violence in the dating relationship between Keah and Ty. Ultimately with the support of Keah's mother the cycle is broken. Students may benefit from additional study/conversations about healthy dating relationships. In the past I have paired novels that address dating violence with a visit from a youth educator from A Safe Place. This visit not only allows us to deepen our understanding of the topic but also connects students who may be in need of assistance with a familiar face at the agency. http://www.asafeplaceforhelp.org/cont...

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a quick read. I am trying to make sure I reach my goal for the end of the year. This was the story of Paige and Ty 2 young people in an abusive relationship. Ty is a football player and Paige is a cheerleader. Paige is bubbly, friendly and likes to talk to everyone and Ty is somewhat of a loner with an abusive, alcoholic father. Paige tries her best to be encouraging to Ty when he is down or not doing well on the football field but all he does he yell and starts to hit her.

I think some of the characters were a little rushed like Paige's best friend Sadie who immediately did not like Ty and a cheerleader named Lara who I thing was added just to be an adversary to the main character. The book is very short and is more of a novella as someone else pointed out. So, I didn't expect it to go into depth. I think this is a book more for middle school readers even though the characters are in high school. I plan on reading the other books in the Southside High series.

[Monet · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I read was called beaten by Suzanne weyn.this story is about a girl named Paige she's the cheerleading captain at south side high dating Ty the MVP of the football team they seem to have a perfect relationship from the outside but in the inside things are violent and scary.
Paige is a very lucky girl from what people see but inside she's really suffering she wants to fit in and be like the other girls on the cheerleading squad and she thinks by dating Ty will get her to fit in.
Ty is just a regular guy all the girls want him he's the star quarterback he's like a dream guy but he has a very bad temper pretty much anything can set him off.
I honestly love this plot because its like a real life story and so many people can connect with the book and this book could really help anybody.
I would recommend this book to people who like high school drama and love stories

[Mikia Kriener]

Beaten is a book about a high school girl who is domestically abused by her boyfriend Ty. They were the perfect couple Keah was the captain of the cheer squad and Ty was the football star. They started seeing each other and everything was perfect. Keah would always cheer Ty up about recruiting camps or a big game coming up. The pressure of the biggest game of the season was to much for Ty and he cracked. He slapped Keah causing her to fall to the sidewalk. She had big gashes on her face and legs. Ty told her that nothing like that would ever happen again. After the loss of the big game Ty drove Keah home. Ty got a text from another girl asking if he wanted to hang. Keah saw the text and asked to get out of the car. Ty wasn't letting her go. When she did get out of the car, Ty beat her up. She was in the hospital for a couple days with her injuries. Keah was smart and decided to never date anyone that would abuse her ever again.

[Zephaniah]

I read this book called beaten, about a girl named pagie and she had a boyfriend named Ty. Ty started to beat her and she didn't know what to do untill her mom found out he was beating her.
This is a good book it talks about how pagie is in a relationship with Ty and he beats her becaus he is mad about football and he takes it out on her. She does not tell anyone because he told her not to tell anyone but the she gets hurt really bad and thats how her mom finds out he beats her so Ty and pagie break up.I woul rate this book a 10 because it talks about a girl how gets beat by her boyfriend and then she breaks up with him.My favorite pesron in the book is her friend because she tries to tell pagie that Ty is bad but pagie does not listen to her and they stop being friends for a little while.

[Taylor Dodge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished this amazing book called Beaten by Susanne Weyn. The main characters' name in this book is Paige. She goes through a lot of trouble in the book. The conflict in this book was that her boyfriend Tyrone was abusing her.

I thought that this book was very interesting. I say that because when Paige started going out with Tyrone she thought that they were a good couple; and I thought that they were a good couple too. Also I would say that she lied to her friends and family saying that she fell from her cheerleading pyramid. I think that she should have told her mother what happened then instead waiting until something worse happened. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes high school drama books. I say this because in the book they talk about having colleges coming to look at them and high school couples.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beaten (and all of the Surviving Southside books) is a short, high-interest, low-level novel. It is about teens who are struggling with child abuse and partner abuse, with some minor conflicts about balancing your time with friends, making decisions about your college, and dealing with cheating in a relationship. Although this book didn't accurately portray the 7-9 times that an abuse victim has to go back to their partner before finally being able to leave, I feel it accurately depicts how a victim feels somewhat responsible and tries to ignore the systems put in place to keep the victim and offender apart.

I know the struggling readers in my classroom will benefit from having another collection of books to read that don't insult them, even though they read low-level books.