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Making Out #11
Ben Takes a Chance
They've all grown up together on a tiny island. They think they know everything about one another...but they're only just beginning to find out the truth. Ben takes a chance that could completely change his life. He has coped just fine as a blind guy, but now he's risking an operation that could restore his sight. Who will he be if he can see? Will his secret dreams really come true? They've all grown up together on a tiny island. They think they know everything about one another...but they're only just beginning to find out the truth. Ben takes a chance that could completely change his life. He has coped just fine as a blind guy, but now he's risking an operation that could restore his sight. Who will he be if he can see? Will his secret dreams really come true?
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 30, 1996
1 person is currently reading
196 people want to read
About the author
Katherine Applegate
275 books6,322 followers#1 New York Times bestselling author Katherine Applegate has written many books for young readers, including THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN, winner of the 2013 Newbery Medal.
Katherine’s picture books include THE BUFFALO STORM, illustrated by Jan Ormerod (Clarion Books); THE REMARKABLE TRUE STORY OF IVAN, THE SHOPPING MALL GORILLA, illustrated by G. Brian Karas (Clarion Books); SOMETIMES YOU FLY, illustrated by Jennifer Black Reinhardt (Clarion Books); and ODDER: AN OTTER’S STORY, illustrated by Charles Santoso (Feiwel & Friends).
She’s written or co-written three early chapter series for young readers: ROSCOE RILEY RULES, a seven-book series illustrated by Brian Biggs (HarperCollins); DOGGO AND PUPPER, a three-book series illustrated by Charlie Alder (Feiwel & Friends). With Gennifer Choldenko, she co-authored DOGTOWN and MOUSE AND HIS DOG, illustrated by Wallace West (Feiwel & Friends).
Books for middle-grade readers include HOME OF THE BRAVE (Feiwel & Friends); THE ONE AND ONLY series, illustrated by Patricia Castelao, including THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN, THE ONE AND ONLY BOB, THE ONE AND ONLY RUBY, and THE ONE AND ONLY FAMILY (HarperCollins); the ENDLING trilogy (HarperCollins); CRENSHAW (Feiwel & Friends); WISHTREE (Feiwel & Friends); WILLODEEN (Feiwel & Friends); ODDER (Feiwel & Friends); and the forthcoming POCKET BEAR (Feiwel & Friends).
With her husband, Michael Grant, Katherine co-wrote ANIMORPHS, a long-running series that has sold over 35 million books worldwide. They also wrote two other series, REMNANTS and EVERWORLD, and a young adult novel, EVE AND ADAM (Feiwel & Friends.)
Katherine’s work has been translated into dozens of languages, and her books have won accolades including the Christopher Medal, the Golden Kite Award, the Bank Street Josette Frank Award, the California Book Award Gold Medal, the Crystal Kite Award, the Green Earth Book Honor Award, the Charlotte Zolotow Honor Award, and the E.B. White Read Aloud Award. Many of her works have appeared on state master lists, Best of the Year lists, and Publishers Weekly, USA Today, and New York Times bestseller lists.
Katherine lives in Nevada with her husband and assorted pets. She is represented by Elena Giovinazzo at Heirloom Literary and Mary Pender at WME.
Katherine’s picture books include THE BUFFALO STORM, illustrated by Jan Ormerod (Clarion Books); THE REMARKABLE TRUE STORY OF IVAN, THE SHOPPING MALL GORILLA, illustrated by G. Brian Karas (Clarion Books); SOMETIMES YOU FLY, illustrated by Jennifer Black Reinhardt (Clarion Books); and ODDER: AN OTTER’S STORY, illustrated by Charles Santoso (Feiwel & Friends).
She’s written or co-written three early chapter series for young readers: ROSCOE RILEY RULES, a seven-book series illustrated by Brian Biggs (HarperCollins); DOGGO AND PUPPER, a three-book series illustrated by Charlie Alder (Feiwel & Friends). With Gennifer Choldenko, she co-authored DOGTOWN and MOUSE AND HIS DOG, illustrated by Wallace West (Feiwel & Friends).
Books for middle-grade readers include HOME OF THE BRAVE (Feiwel & Friends); THE ONE AND ONLY series, illustrated by Patricia Castelao, including THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN, THE ONE AND ONLY BOB, THE ONE AND ONLY RUBY, and THE ONE AND ONLY FAMILY (HarperCollins); the ENDLING trilogy (HarperCollins); CRENSHAW (Feiwel & Friends); WISHTREE (Feiwel & Friends); WILLODEEN (Feiwel & Friends); ODDER (Feiwel & Friends); and the forthcoming POCKET BEAR (Feiwel & Friends).
With her husband, Michael Grant, Katherine co-wrote ANIMORPHS, a long-running series that has sold over 35 million books worldwide. They also wrote two other series, REMNANTS and EVERWORLD, and a young adult novel, EVE AND ADAM (Feiwel & Friends.)
Katherine’s work has been translated into dozens of languages, and her books have won accolades including the Christopher Medal, the Golden Kite Award, the Bank Street Josette Frank Award, the California Book Award Gold Medal, the Crystal Kite Award, the Green Earth Book Honor Award, the Charlotte Zolotow Honor Award, and the E.B. White Read Aloud Award. Many of her works have appeared on state master lists, Best of the Year lists, and Publishers Weekly, USA Today, and New York Times bestseller lists.
Katherine lives in Nevada with her husband and assorted pets. She is represented by Elena Giovinazzo at Heirloom Literary and Mary Pender at WME.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 8, 2015
This is a pretty monumental instalment as it’s the one where we have confirmation that Jake’s little sister Holly has truly ceased to exist:
“Since Jake’s older brother, Wade, had died in a drunk driving accident two years earlier, Mrs McRoyan had become a devout church-goer. As her only surviving child, Jake felt it was his duty to accompany her whenever humanly possible.”
There have been hints in previous books, such as Jake talking about Thanksgiving being just him and his parents, and the fact that she has not made an appearance since Zoey saw her riding around town in volume 6 but here is concrete proof that Holly has just been lifted out of the story. I’m used to this kind of continuity gaffe due to my lifelong love of all things Sweet and Valley, but I thought Making Out was a breed apart. I guess not! Unless it’s not a mistake and there’s some Fringe-style shenanigans going on.
Jake’s having a pretty shitty time, even apart from his siblings dropping like flies. He’s back on the sauce like a drunken fool. It’s easy to feel annoyed with him but there’s a scene where he’s drinking vodka in his room alone on Christmas that made me remember that Jake’s having a terrible terrible time and needs help.
Claire. Oh Claire. Claire keeps herself apart from the rest of the gang because she was so hurt by her mother's death that she wants to avoid close relationships, that much is obvious and understandable. But her isolation has resulted in her living too much in her head and getting some crazy ideas about herself. I wish Claire would just get out of her head and start interacting with people. Claire spends this book reeling around town, thinking about how God sent Aaron to Chatham Island especially for her. Meanwhile he pays little attention to her until she sneaks into his room in the middle of the night and gets in bed with him. As for Aaron, if I have to read anymore about his perfect curls and puffy lips I might blow chunks.
Aisha still can’t decide whether or not to marry Christopher and he’s shipping out on January 5th. It’s obvious to me that she should say, “No Christopher, I’m in high school and you’re a sketchy guy.” Zoey and Lucas can’t seem to get it together. There’s the Aaron situation, Lucas is a hothead, and they’re both just boring me to death. Benjamin goes off to Boston to get his eye surgery.
Favourite Moments:
-The gender specific Christmas shopping trips, and the lists of things the gang bought. Benjamin buys his dad a pair of John Lennon-style sunglasses; maybe that’s where the glasses he’s wearing on the cover come from because they’re certainly not his signature Ray-Bans.
-Lara calls Zoey a “pathetic little brat”
-Zoey gets ripped on eggnog at Aisha’s parents’ Christmas Eve party.
Also:
A couple of weeks ago I noticed Making Out was being re-released as The Islanders and I thought it was pretty cool. I’m not feeling so optimistic about it now. I got another Katherine Applegate series for my Kindle to read on a plane journey, it was called Making Waves in the UK and Summer elsewhere (I think). I downloaded it and was flicking through the chapters, when I spotted a reference to Kanye West. Arg! It’s an updated version, with any references to the nineties erased! Summer has a VIDEO BLOG in it. I don’t think today’s teens would be averse to reading a book that references The Breeders. They can handle it. So I’m guessing they’re doing the same thing with Making Out. They’ll give Nina a bunch of…I dunno. She won’t wear quite so many plaid shirts and army fatigues I suppose. What next? Have Captain Ahab perch on a bench at the seaside with his iPad while his Quadcopter goes out looking for Moby Dick?
IS NOTHING SACRED?
“Since Jake’s older brother, Wade, had died in a drunk driving accident two years earlier, Mrs McRoyan had become a devout church-goer. As her only surviving child, Jake felt it was his duty to accompany her whenever humanly possible.”
There have been hints in previous books, such as Jake talking about Thanksgiving being just him and his parents, and the fact that she has not made an appearance since Zoey saw her riding around town in volume 6 but here is concrete proof that Holly has just been lifted out of the story. I’m used to this kind of continuity gaffe due to my lifelong love of all things Sweet and Valley, but I thought Making Out was a breed apart. I guess not! Unless it’s not a mistake and there’s some Fringe-style shenanigans going on.
Jake’s having a pretty shitty time, even apart from his siblings dropping like flies. He’s back on the sauce like a drunken fool. It’s easy to feel annoyed with him but there’s a scene where he’s drinking vodka in his room alone on Christmas that made me remember that Jake’s having a terrible terrible time and needs help.
Claire. Oh Claire. Claire keeps herself apart from the rest of the gang because she was so hurt by her mother's death that she wants to avoid close relationships, that much is obvious and understandable. But her isolation has resulted in her living too much in her head and getting some crazy ideas about herself. I wish Claire would just get out of her head and start interacting with people. Claire spends this book reeling around town, thinking about how God sent Aaron to Chatham Island especially for her. Meanwhile he pays little attention to her until she sneaks into his room in the middle of the night and gets in bed with him. As for Aaron, if I have to read anymore about his perfect curls and puffy lips I might blow chunks.
Aisha still can’t decide whether or not to marry Christopher and he’s shipping out on January 5th. It’s obvious to me that she should say, “No Christopher, I’m in high school and you’re a sketchy guy.” Zoey and Lucas can’t seem to get it together. There’s the Aaron situation, Lucas is a hothead, and they’re both just boring me to death. Benjamin goes off to Boston to get his eye surgery.
Favourite Moments:
-The gender specific Christmas shopping trips, and the lists of things the gang bought. Benjamin buys his dad a pair of John Lennon-style sunglasses; maybe that’s where the glasses he’s wearing on the cover come from because they’re certainly not his signature Ray-Bans.
-Lara calls Zoey a “pathetic little brat”
-Zoey gets ripped on eggnog at Aisha’s parents’ Christmas Eve party.
Also:
A couple of weeks ago I noticed Making Out was being re-released as The Islanders and I thought it was pretty cool. I’m not feeling so optimistic about it now. I got another Katherine Applegate series for my Kindle to read on a plane journey, it was called Making Waves in the UK and Summer elsewhere (I think). I downloaded it and was flicking through the chapters, when I spotted a reference to Kanye West. Arg! It’s an updated version, with any references to the nineties erased! Summer has a VIDEO BLOG in it. I don’t think today’s teens would be averse to reading a book that references The Breeders. They can handle it. So I’m guessing they’re doing the same thing with Making Out. They’ll give Nina a bunch of…I dunno. She won’t wear quite so many plaid shirts and army fatigues I suppose. What next? Have Captain Ahab perch on a bench at the seaside with his iPad while his Quadcopter goes out looking for Moby Dick?
IS NOTHING SACRED?
August 14, 2018
This was one of my favorite series in high school, and I'm enjoying rereading them. I don't think I ever appreciated how awesome Benjamin and Nina are. I love their relationship so much. It's so cute and sweet and funny and awkward and realistic. They're the only couple with any real depth to them.
As opposed to Zoey and Lucas, whose every conversation is like:
Lucas: Zoey, we've been alone for five seconds. Let's have sex. Aren't you ready to have sex yet? I'm tired of waiting for us to have sex. Can we have sex now?....How about now?
Zoey: Lucas, I've told you 52 trillion times that I'm just not ready to risk possibly being a teen mom yet. If you can't understand that, I'm just going to go make out with Aaron.
Or even better, Christopher and Aisha....
Christopher: I know we've only known each other for like 6 months and I spent half of our relationship hooking up with other girls behind your back, but I'm afraid we'll break up when I join the army, so will you marry me?
Aisha: Well, I'm only 18 and really looking forward to college, but I am afraid you'll forget me when you go to basic training in 2 weeks, so maybe. I just can't decide. Can I just finish my final exams and then start to think about answering you?
Despite some bad dialogue, the supposedly smart girls acting like fools, annoying new characters like Lara and Aaron, and the fact that Lucas' thoughts about gender have not held up well 20 years later (seriously, why did I ever like him and root for him and Zoey?), I will still always love these books.
As opposed to Zoey and Lucas, whose every conversation is like:
Lucas: Zoey, we've been alone for five seconds. Let's have sex. Aren't you ready to have sex yet? I'm tired of waiting for us to have sex. Can we have sex now?....How about now?
Zoey: Lucas, I've told you 52 trillion times that I'm just not ready to risk possibly being a teen mom yet. If you can't understand that, I'm just going to go make out with Aaron.
Or even better, Christopher and Aisha....
Christopher: I know we've only known each other for like 6 months and I spent half of our relationship hooking up with other girls behind your back, but I'm afraid we'll break up when I join the army, so will you marry me?
Aisha: Well, I'm only 18 and really looking forward to college, but I am afraid you'll forget me when you go to basic training in 2 weeks, so maybe. I just can't decide. Can I just finish my final exams and then start to think about answering you?
Despite some bad dialogue, the supposedly smart girls acting like fools, annoying new characters like Lara and Aaron, and the fact that Lucas' thoughts about gender have not held up well 20 years later (seriously, why did I ever like him and root for him and Zoey?), I will still always love these books.
January 30, 2017
Gosh, the ghostwritter who took over KA's work on the Making Out series should read the previous novel before writing the next one.
Or the publisher should. Because the summary on the cover is nothing but false. Or maybe it was written by both Lucas and Christopher who believed that the chain of Gossip of Chatham Island was fueled by the girls only (as if boys never gossiped between them... Here again, Christopher and Lucas are a nice example).
I really enjoyed this one when I was younger because I had a huge crush on Benjamin. Now that I am an adult, I am still very fond of him.
When I was young, I was completely oblivious of Zoey's drama... But as I reread the novel, it kind of upset me. I tend to forget that Zoey is a teenager. Maybe I should keep that in mind for the next novels...?
Or the publisher should. Because the summary on the cover is nothing but false. Or maybe it was written by both Lucas and Christopher who believed that the chain of Gossip of Chatham Island was fueled by the girls only (as if boys never gossiped between them... Here again, Christopher and Lucas are a nice example).
I really enjoyed this one when I was younger because I had a huge crush on Benjamin. Now that I am an adult, I am still very fond of him.
When I was young, I was completely oblivious of Zoey's drama... But as I reread the novel, it kind of upset me. I tend to forget that Zoey is a teenager. Maybe I should keep that in mind for the next novels...?
December 15, 2015
This one has some less than stellar writing in it, especially when Zoey and Lucas are involved. Probably Aisha too but I gloss over her scenes because she sucks. But then we have Nina and Benjamin and everything they're both going through, and the scene with Jake and his dad is one I've never forgotten. I can't forgive the ghost writers for what they've done to smart girls like Zoey and Aisha, but thank heavens they haven't harmed my favourites. I'm still loving their journeys.
May 29, 2022
Nervously anticipating the results of Benjamins operation now (even though I know very well what happens) really don’t remember disliking Lucas and Zoey as much as I do now
April 8, 2023
This book wasn't really about Ben taking a chance until right at the end.
April 26, 2021
I loved the Christmas gift lists and Nina and Benjamin were wonderful again. Claire on the other hand is losing her mind.
January 31, 2023
Ugh, Lucas is the worst, Zoey not far behind. All I really want is the Nina and Benjamin Show, with special appearances by Claire going crazy and heartwarming Jake-and-his-dad scenes.
October 2, 2025
Zoey is getting more and more annoying and what kind of fucked up thing is Claire doing?! Does anybody know what consent means?
January 9, 2017
diese Buchreihe hat mich während meiner Teeniezeit begleitet. ich habe sie so geliebt...
February 28, 2017
Feeling nostalgic for the books of my youth, I revisited Katherine Applegate and her Islanders omnibus editions (first released as the Making Out series way back in 1993. Yes, I am that old...).
While I found them to be overly-dramatic and a little bit cheesy on second reading, I think they would be loved by teenagers today. YA has taken a much-welcome step in the sphere of fantasy, science fiction and Dystopia, largely, in recent years so for teenagers looking for the traditional romance novels filled with teen-angst and buried secrets, these are a good series to turn to. A little bit Dawson's Creek in it's setting and it's drama, The Islanders is the perfect teen soap opera.
While I found them to be overly-dramatic and a little bit cheesy on second reading, I think they would be loved by teenagers today. YA has taken a much-welcome step in the sphere of fantasy, science fiction and Dystopia, largely, in recent years so for teenagers looking for the traditional romance novels filled with teen-angst and buried secrets, these are a good series to turn to. A little bit Dawson's Creek in it's setting and it's drama, The Islanders is the perfect teen soap opera.
December 6, 2023
I remember being obsessed with this series when I was 14! I made my mom buy me all 29 books (in Germany a 29th book was published, there is no English translation) after borrowing the first one from my then-best friend.
Looking back, the plots got wilder and wilder with time: A lost half-sister, Claire's stalker, Ben miraculously being able to see again etc. I don't think I would enjoy it as much now as I did ten years ago, but it will only have a special place in my heart.
Looking back, the plots got wilder and wilder with time: A lost half-sister, Claire's stalker, Ben miraculously being able to see again etc. I don't think I would enjoy it as much now as I did ten years ago, but it will only have a special place in my heart.
October 27, 2007
RELATIONSHIPS!!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews