The Rubber Band

About the Book

Book: The Rubber Band

Author: Christy Hoss

Genre: Middle Grade

Release date: July 31, 2020

CMYK300TheRubberband (1) (2) THE RUBBER BAND What do Roadkill Rocky, Bossy Becca, and Pinhead Eddie have in common? Nothing. A rag-tag bunch of elementary school kids come together to form a rock and roll band and enter the Sun Valley talent contest. Will they be strong enough to overcome prejudice and see the dream of winning through, or will an unforeseen medical emergency break the bond of the band?

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"The Rubber Band" by Christy Hoss is a fun novel that has third graders as the main characters. This book is a story of friendships that are based on being sent to the principal's office. It has lessons on bulling and diabetics. It also shows that sometime a person acts differently than who they really are because of circumstances in their life and because it is easier to just let the rumors go on instead of trying to beat them. I think this would be a great book to read along with a 2-5th grader and have great discussions with them. This book shows that it is important to have dreams and not to give up on them. I knew I was going to like this book from the beginning when it starts out with the "good kid" getting sent to the principal's office for shooting a rubber band at a classmate.

This book brought up some school memories that I have forgotten, both good and bad, and makes me glad that I am not in school anymore. I think this would be a great book for teachers to have in their classes for all students to read because of the lessons taught about getting along together.

I love this quote from the book, "The only way to survive the bad notes life sings to you is to keep playing until the music is in tune again."

I received a contemporary copy by the author and Celebrate Lit and these opinions are my own.

About the Author

IMG_0898-Edit (1) Christy caught the writing bug in second grade after winning a prize for a five-page story about her dog, Noodles. Mrs. Olson told her she was destined to be a writer and that dream never left her thoughts. After teaching elementary school for fifteen years, Christy fulfilled her childhood dream with her debut novel, The Rubber Band. She substitute teaches to support her writing career, deriving writing inspiration from the students and situations she encounters.

At age twenty-five, she was diagnosed with type-one diabetes but refuses to let it limit her. Her diabetic alert dog, Aiden, has saved her life uncountable times and will appear in future installments of The Rubber Band. Christy lives by this equation: Living + diabetes = LIVE-abetes.

Christy is a freelance editor and writes children’s Bible stories for Focus on the Family ClubHouse magazine and has written articles for Guideposts. She is a featured speaker for conferences, retreats and special events.

Christy lives in Northern California with Kevin, the love of her life. They have three grown children.

More from Christy

Noodles is the reason I am a writer. Noodles was my childhood dog’s name. I loved her oodles and oodles. She was a dachshund, not a poodle. I often drew her in my doodles. (Can you tell I’m an elementary school teacher?) A few short years ago, when I was in second grade, I entered a class writing contest. My story was five sentences long but won first place. The teacher told me I was destined to be a writer. That encouragement never left me. I grew up in the small town of Thief River Falls, Minnesota, and always loved writing in school, especially fiction. I wrote stories for my friends and for myself to create situations I could only dream of. As an adult, I moved to California, determined to live for God. He led me back to college where I fell in love with writing again. I won a state-wide award for my feature article in the JC’s newspaper, confirming my heart’s desire. Fast forward through marriage, kids, and a teaching job—my friends begged me to write about a recurring night dream I had, which was like watching the ending of a suspense thriller movie. Through writing conferences, critique groups and late nights, I wrote Palms of Death by starting at the end and working my way backwards. After rewriting it several times, I self-published it in 2018. At my first major writers’ conference, the Lord undeniably called me to write. So, the real reason I write is not because of Noodles, but because I want to always be a faithful follower of Jesus Christ and wholeheartedly follow His direction. That’s my story, just a bit of the whole kit and caboodle.