121 Express

by Monique Polak

The students of the 121 Express are infamous for bad behavior and Lucas knows his role on the bus will determine his social standing at his new school. Lucas is tired of being one of the nerds. When he attracts the negative attention of the cool troublemakers, he saves himself by teasing another kid. His ploy works and soon Lucas is right in the center of the mayhem on the bus. He loves his new found popularity, but when the fun and games push the bus driver to a nervous collapse and hospitalizes an elderly lady, Lucas begins to question his choices.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction

112 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Salma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucas moved to a new school and he was trying to fit in the nerd group. The other students in the bus was disrespect and the bus diver was really mad at them. This kid called Sandeep was so rude and he threw an apple at the old woman and she told the principal .The rest of the students were scared . I am almost done with the book . I love this book .My favorite character is Lucas because he try to be himself and not like other people. My lesson is that you don't have to be mean but stay cool to everybody.

[Demetridemarcusthe3rd · Rating 2 out of 5]

121 Express by Monique Polak is a decent book. In my opinion it was pretty boring. at some moments it could be a bit dull and confusing. I remember at one point at a chapter switch it felt like a new book since it was all over the place. But I enjoyed the last few chapters since they were not all over the place. Overall the book was decent. Would i buy it or recommend to read it? No go read "One Piece. It's way better. But in a way it could teach important lessons about bullying but as i said you could read One Piece which teaches about slavery and poverty. But the book was decent and you do not have to trust my opinion but i did not like it.

[Sara Jasinski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wish I could give this one a 3.5. It was entertaining but also easily accessible to a struggling reader.

[Aoife · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for school lmao

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Written at a 3.9 grade level, this book is part of the Orca Currents series that is for junior high/high school students who have low reading levels. I have quite a few of these in my high school library and they are very popular with the lower reading level kids.

However, I'm not too impressed with this book. Lucas is starting a new school and decides to be a troublemaker so he isn't stuck with the brainiac image from his old school. The setting for most of the book is the bus--Lucas must ride the Montreal transit to school. And the kids are rotten--throwing stuff out windows, spraying the bus with Diet Coke, etc. They even give the bus driver a mental breakdown. Of course, Lucas "sees the light" and magically decides to defend "Raghead," an Arab kid he nicknamed. In reality, I don't see this drastic change happening. If he were a good kid to start with, he never would have taken up with the idiots in the back of the bus, even if he wanted to be cool. And the sudden change just doesn't fit with his bad boy attitude.

[Ryan Garrity · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned that she writes really funny books. I wouldn't mind reading some of her other books that she wrote. I would say that the main character actually changed the most ever since he changed in the beginning of the book. At the end he would be sitting up in the front with the geeks, but in the start he was up front. The only difference is that he was going to do what ever it takes to get at the back of the bus. Now he didn't really want to go back up to the fronts with the geeks he just didn't want to be funny, but mean at the same time. He promised to himself that he would not do another bad thing ever since one of his friends knocked over an old lady with an apple. But than after promising himself to not be bad he was told to go distract his project buddy as one of his buds from back cuts his hair. The only problem with that is that his religion is that he can't his hair.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

121 Express is about a boy named Lucas who moves to a new school, & decides he's tired of being a 'Braniac' as a title. Therefore, he treis to cause some trouble on the 121 Express, where most students attend. Along the way, he gets in quite a lot of trouble with his new 'cool friends', and when they tick off the bus driver he learns to stand up for bullied kids.

I picked up this book because my friend was reading it so when she was finished, I burrowed it too.


I finished this book, because it was really easy to read and so short that I didn't even realize it was over.

I would recommend this book to middle schoolers or end of elementary school-ers, because that's usually the age where you discover who you are as a person and a wrong turn and the wrong crowd could lead to consequences, as demonstrated in the book.

[Trisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was very relatable in my opinion since it had the technology we have today and other features. That's is why I like these types of books. I grabbed this book because of the description on the back it sounded interesting, so I read it. My connection with this book is where how the kids act and the kids who are always in trouble mischiefs. I think the reason why the author wrote this book is the reality of middle schoolers and their reaction to life and society, what people think of them and what their perspectives are from each other. My reflection to this 151 Express book is that the plot is well written for middle schoolers. This book helps you know how middle schoolers life actually go on the bus or in school.

[Shawn Bird · Rating 3 out of 5]

Orca Currents is a series that features straight forward plots appropriate for young teens, dealing with issues they can relate to. They are high interest low vocab novels for weak readers. This story is set in Montreal, and features a group of teens who torture their bus driver until he has a break down. I knew a class (from a Christian school, FYI) who did this. There isn't a lot of development here, but it meets the brief and kids will be able to relate.

[Naomi Oyegue · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS BOOK INSPIRES ME BECAUSE IT SHOWS WHEN PEOPLE WANT TO FIT IN THEY CAN DO CRAZY THINGS AND SOMETIMES THEY LEARN THAT IT IS WRONG IN A HARD WAY. LUCUS THE MAIN CHARACTER IN THE STORY IS NEW AND WANTS TO FIT IN NOT WITH THE NERDS IN THE FRONT BUT WITH THE COOL KIDS IN THE BACK AND HE IS FORCED TO DO SOMETHINGS HE WOULD LATER REGRET.

[Cem Nesiri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a teenage's teen life. He had no friends at the beginning but after a while everything would change and he would become popular in the "121 Express". I think Zeynep, Aslı, İlayda, Zorbey can read this book because I think they would like to read teen-age book.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the weaker Orca Currents novels.

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK. I just finished it today and it was GREAT!!!! To all that see this review, read this book!

[Amy Mathers · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://amysmarathonofbooks.ca/121-exp...