Sophomore Cole Renner knows teamwork inside and out from running cross-country at his multi-ethnic Chicago public school. He knows about
braving the elements and not getting passed in the chute. What Cole doesn’t know is how much he’ll need all of his mental and physical skills when the heavy doors of Cook County Jail slam shut on his father, a community activist; when his English teacher catches Cole tagging the school with the F word and sentences him to write two poems a week, each on a word that starts with F; when his best friend Felipe Ramirez runs for class president against the girl who dumped him; and when the school bully prowls the halls looking for Cole and the principal seems more interested in punishing Cole than the bully. As much as Cole wants to win meets, what he wants even more is justice—for his father, for himself, for Felipe, and for his fellow students. Cole learns that actions matter, but so do words. He takes his write words (in both Spanish and English) and turns them into the right words to fight for justice.
" Barbara Gregorich has written dozens of books, many on women in baseball, including She’s on First and Women at Play: The Story of Women in Baseball. She has also written numerous middle-grades books such as Jack and Larry and Cookie the Cockatoo: Everything Changes, and more than 150 educational activity books. As a freelance editor/writer at School Zone Publishing she wrote 18 Start to Read books, developed and wrote the Read and Think series, and has written many BrainQuest cards for Workman Publishing. She hosts the high profile blog Much to Write About. Her first YA novel, The F Words, honors the important role that young people play in movements for social change. "
This powerful and diverse book will inspire young readers to stand up for what they believe in, to believe in themselves, and to fight for justice. Perfect for teens finding themselves—and tentatively writing poetry—during the era of Me Too and Black Lives Matter.
ISBN: 978-1-952536-26-7
8 reviews for The F Words
Rated 5 out of 5
Lisa J. Lickel –
“It is completely refreshing to read a book about a good kid making restitution for doing a bad thing while figuring out constructive ways to deal with injustice. Chicago high school sophomore Cole Renner come to grips with the fact that he is not going to change the world all at once, but that he can and should make a difference in his own environment.
Barbara Gregorich uses her experience as an activist and love of sports to create a marvelous cast of eclectic teachers, staff, students, and parents in this street-level view of precarious teen life in contemporary Chicago. Cole is beyond frustrated when his father receives jail time for leading a protest against closing a local public elementary school. “All this over a grade school,” Cole thinks. It’s one more event in a long list of frustrations over inequality, petty revenge, getting dumped by his girlfriend, and upside-down thinking he encounters in his life. Taking out his anger at the “system” by tagging the school with a vulgarity one night at the beginning of the school year, he’s caught in the act by his English teacher who happens to be in the neighborhood. Quick and creative thinking combine to form an unusual punishment. Cole shows his quality of character by taking to heart and learning from this unique assignment of creating at least two poems a week featuring a word that begins with the letter F for the remainder of the school year.
Cole’s journey of self-discovery involves applying cross-country running advice from an empathetic coach, the deep love of his parents, the experience of visiting his father in the Cook County jail, watching his mother learn how to cope with brief single parenting, and from his boss at his afterschool job at a greenhouse. During an event in which Cole supports his friend Felipe’s class presidency campaign, Cole observes that Felipe is breathing “like he’s in a race. Then I realize he is. Not an actual race, but a race to represent tenth graders. To argue for what he believes in.”
We eventually learn why Cole’s English teacher is willing to risk his career by misleading the school’s principal about who vandalized school property when Cole must trust him with another problem. Empathetic educators help Cole “switch on all the bright lights.” Cole is challenged by the principal who thinks but cannot prove he is the one who tagged the school, and continues to harbor a grudge for Cole’s actions the previous year of protesting standardized testing. Cole’s sense of social responsibility takes on new meaning when not only is his chance at a college scholarship threatened, but so are his friends when the realities of illegal immigration affect them all.
Later, Cole is asked about his poetry assignment and confesses the poems he writes “let me say how I’m feeling, and they make me think.”
The F Words is an enlightening book for middle and high school. While it does contain limited and mild appropriately situational cursing, I recommend it, especially to foment family discussions on social justice and youth activism.”
Rated 5 out of 5
Bradley –
“The F Words is a fantastic YA novel. The story, set in Chicago, follows Cole, a high school student, who’s having a hard time. His dad is in jail. He’s frustrated. In a moment of anger, he vandalizes the local school, painting the F word on the outside walls. His English teacher catches him, and instead of seeking suspension, the punishment is much more creative: Cole will have to write two poems (about other F words) each week. The novel sets off from here and goes on to tackle complex race and cultural issues. The cast is diverse. The plot is engaging throughout. The book feels timely and important, teaching about the power in and need for activism.
I appreciate how Gregorich uses poetry inside the novel. This adds another depth to the experience of the whole book.
The F Words isn’t just a good book, but it’s also an important one. High school teachers in particular should seek out this one for their classrooms. It’ll certainly be on my bookshelf—if students will put it down, that is.”
Rated 5 out of 5
Linda Loew –
“I loved this book! It kept me on my toes, looking around the next corner, waiting to hear the bullhorns and the sound of marching protestors approaching. If you’ve ever walked a picket line or carried a protest sign, pumped your fist in the air against injustice and for a better world, you’ll probably feel a surge like I did as the main character Cole, a 10th grader, and his friends & family navigate not just the halls of their high school, but the streets of their Chicago neighborhood.
Cole’s father is a political prisoner in Cook County jail, for his role in leading a struggle against school closures. Cole’s best friend Felipe runs for class president on a social justice platform, while ICE agents patrolling the streets are a constant worry to their classmates. Cole faces many challenges besides getting in trouble for tagging F Words on the school wall.
The F Words are not just what you might think…they’re a jumping off point for much more, from Fortitude to Fury, from Fist to Fire, from Fear to Fighting back…to Friendship.
Besides the physical action, from cross country running, to protest marches, there’s the mental action, the intellectual and cultural growth reflected in Cole’s poems. There’s a great deal more to identify with from tacos to home baked pies. Whether you are a teacher, a parent, or a high school student yourself, I highly recommend this YA novel to everyone, young and older “”youth.”” There’s something for all of us!”
Rated 5 out of 5
S. Katz –
“I thoroughly enjoyed this fast paced YA novel. Pertinent for teens today but also good reading for an old fogey like myself.
The book has likeable, engaging characters who encounter the unfairness of life and figure out how to protest and deal with it.
The poetry Cole, the main character, writes as a “”punishment”” adds to the story. This book should give teens a lot to think about, whether they agree with it all or not. Hopefully it will spark some worthwhile conversations with others. 5 stars from me!”
Rated 5 out of 5
Redline –
I noticed the effortless way the author handles the mixture of Spanish and English when bilingual characters and their friends communicate. In a process called: “code switching,” Spanish words are often inserted into predominantly English dialogue especially when emphasis or emotion are needed. In fact, although the vocabulary of the entire novel is easily accessible, it always shows a reverence for words and their meanings.
Rated 4 out of 5
KIRKUS –
A boy, infuriated with injustices in his world and community, learns how to fight back.
Cole Renner is a White sophomore at August Mersy High School in Chicago. His principal has labeled him a troublemaker for daring to take action against injustices—just like his father, who is currently a prisoner in Cook County Jail after leading a protest to save a neighborhood public school. Struggling with his father’s recent sentencing, Cole lashes out and spray-paints the F-word multiple times on school property. Caught by Mr. Nachman, his English teacher, he is offered a choice: face suspension or clean it off and write two poems every week about other words starting with F. Choosing the latter option, Cole writes about the injustices that surround him and his schoolmates, who are of diverse cultural backgrounds. Despite his initial reluctance, he finds solace in poetry, and it becomes an outlet for each new wrong that Cole and those he cares about face. The teen characters’ discussions of issues such as deportation and racism may inspire young readers who are fed up with witnessing inequities, though this first-person novel tackles many concepts in its five-month timeline, causing events to be rushed and detracting from some of their impact. However, the author admirably showcases the power young people hold when they come together and speak out against a biased system.
Rated 5 out of 5
Carol Joann –
Realistic and inspiring
“The F Words” features a high-school boy who is wrestling with a lot of big issues. His activist father is in prison; his friends at school are in danger of deportation as undocumented immigrants; and Cole himself is in trouble for defacing school property.
This is a terrific book with realistic characters trying to work out for themselves how to do the right thing. It’s an excellent book to encourage conversation and debate about protest, civic duty, mass incarceration, and deportation of undocumented immigrants.
Rated 5 out of 5
Children’s Literature –
Cole is spraypainting crude language on his high school’s walls when he is caught by his English teacher, Mr. Nachman. Fortunately, the teacher is willing to strike a deal: If Cole cleans the paint from the walls and writes two poems about “F words” each week until the end of the school year, Mr. Nachman will not report the incident to the principal. He understands that Cole is angry because his father has been sent to prison for protesting the closing of a neighborhood school. That’s not all of the upheaval Cole is dealing with. His friend Felipe runs for tenth-grade class president against Cole’s former girlfriend Jillian. Jillian resents Cole’s support of Felipe and begins to cause him further frustration at school, even after Felipe wins. Then, some classmates who are immigrants are deported. Cole, Felipe, and their friends become involved in protests against the deportations. Finally, Felipe’s own family is threatened. Cole’s weekly poems provide strength to sort through all of the issues he faces. Readers will learn about various types of poetry and see ways of dealing with bullying at school. In turns serious and humorous, this book about making mistakes and standing up for one’s beliefs will resonate long after the final page.
Follow the lives of John and Patrick Donahue as they grow up in the Old First Ward in Buffalo, New York during the mid-1800s. Orphaned as children, they are sent to live with their grandmother. While John finds work and helps support the family, Patrick becomes involved with a gang and runs wild. When the Civil War breaks out, the brothers join the Union army. Follow them through the deadly battles of Grant’s Virginia campaign to Appomattox, the difficulties they face holding jobs once the war is over, their relationships with wives, children, and one another, and Patrick’s lifelong battle with the bottle. A compelling tale of two Irish Catholic men, sons of immigrants, during a tumultuous period in our nation’s rich history.
The Story of a Kite-Flying Contest, the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge, and the Underground Railroad
Can a kite change history? Katie and Homan’s did.
When engineers were faced with the challenge of bridging the vast Niagara Gorge, the solution was a kite-flying contest. After Katie and Homan’s kite crosses the gorge and wins the contest, construction begins on the first suspension bridge to connect the United States and Canada. The two friends are there as it becomes an important link on the Underground Railroad, helping slaves escape to freedom.
Even as her parents try to shield her from the ugly existence of slavery and the dangers of the Underground Railroad, Katie discovers that the scary truth is closer to home than she could have imagined.
Kite to Freedom is an action-packed, fictionalized account of actual events that occurred during the construction of the Niagara Falls International Suspension Bridge, which still connects the United States and Canada at Niagara Falls.
When Democratic hopeful Senator Adhemar Reyes proposed that all presidential candidates compete on a reality TV show to prove they can handle a crisis, he was kidding—mostly. But he said it on the U.S. Senate Floor, and it was all caught on C-SPAN. The comment sparks a media frenzy. Everyone wants Adhemar on their show. It doesn’t hurt to get your face on TV so that the American public knows your name before you announce your candidacy. Right? Mostly. But when Congress passes a bill that makes the reality show a reality, the senator is thrust into The President Factor. Countless sarcastic jibes, two political crises, and an off-limits love affair. Will the charismatic Hispanic candidate win? Why is one team getting malaria shots? Can Washington politics be even more absurd? Yes to the last question. The rest is inside.
Immerse yourself in Shakespeare’s magical world, filled with supernatural encounters with faeries, ghosts and witches. Frolic with royalty, wander through forests, and experience love layered with enchantment. The Bard’s use of these fantastical phenomena has had a tremendous and enduring influence on authors and audiences for more than four centuries. But what are their origins? Explore the folk beliefs and literary sources that influenced Shakespeare and discover how he assembled his own masterful portraits of these phenomena, giving his plays vibrant life and his characters unforgettable personalities.
Eleven-year-old Elinor Malcolm just wants to be normal. Lonely, she goes in search of her best self and a best friend.
In Elinormal, her bossy mom threatens to sue if Elinor is not granted a spot in a prestigious ballet academy. The problem is, Elinor has no interest in ballet. While sitting out the first class in an area park she meets Indira who helps her realize that she is a capable and kind individual. Elinor opens up and makes a friend at school who enjoys all the same things she does. The people in her life finally converge—secret identities are revealed, and Elinor has an epiphany about the nature of relationships and the power of love.
In the sequel, New Girl: The Further Adventures of Elinormal, Elinor is ready for the first day of seventh grade when a last-minute phone call turns her world upside down. She misses the first week of school and when she gets back she’s called “the new girl” even though she’s not. Elinor quickly learns that people are complicated and relationships take work. Lots of work. As she discovers who she is, who she wants to be, and what she wants most in life, she struggles to balance friendships, both old and new, while also unraveling her mother’s mysterious past.
Both of these delightful books explore the complexity of friendships, the reality of disappointments, and the trouble with secrets.
It all begins one mid-summer day. First, the Cayuga Island Kids rescue a mallard caught in the plastic rings from six-pack of cans. Litter. Moments later, a girl on a bike carelessly tosses a plastic bottle in the creek. The Cayuga Island Kids successfully retrieve it, but then they notice all the litter in the park. That’s when they decide it’s time for action. But moving from knowing something has to be done to getting it done takes determination, teamwork, and sometimes, looking in a new direction. How the Cayuga Island Kids go from fishing a plastic bottle out of the creek to bringing the community together to build a recycling bin big enough to hold plenty of plastic makes for a lively adventure. Best of all, readers will cheer on the Cayuga Island Kids as they come to realize that although we are each just one person, together we can make a BIG difference.
Lisa J. Lickel –
“It is completely refreshing to read a book about a good kid making restitution for doing a bad thing while figuring out constructive ways to deal with injustice. Chicago high school sophomore Cole Renner come to grips with the fact that he is not going to change the world all at once, but that he can and should make a difference in his own environment.
Barbara Gregorich uses her experience as an activist and love of sports to create a marvelous cast of eclectic teachers, staff, students, and parents in this street-level view of precarious teen life in contemporary Chicago. Cole is beyond frustrated when his father receives jail time for leading a protest against closing a local public elementary school. “All this over a grade school,” Cole thinks. It’s one more event in a long list of frustrations over inequality, petty revenge, getting dumped by his girlfriend, and upside-down thinking he encounters in his life. Taking out his anger at the “system” by tagging the school with a vulgarity one night at the beginning of the school year, he’s caught in the act by his English teacher who happens to be in the neighborhood. Quick and creative thinking combine to form an unusual punishment. Cole shows his quality of character by taking to heart and learning from this unique assignment of creating at least two poems a week featuring a word that begins with the letter F for the remainder of the school year.
Cole’s journey of self-discovery involves applying cross-country running advice from an empathetic coach, the deep love of his parents, the experience of visiting his father in the Cook County jail, watching his mother learn how to cope with brief single parenting, and from his boss at his afterschool job at a greenhouse. During an event in which Cole supports his friend Felipe’s class presidency campaign, Cole observes that Felipe is breathing “like he’s in a race. Then I realize he is. Not an actual race, but a race to represent tenth graders. To argue for what he believes in.”
We eventually learn why Cole’s English teacher is willing to risk his career by misleading the school’s principal about who vandalized school property when Cole must trust him with another problem. Empathetic educators help Cole “switch on all the bright lights.” Cole is challenged by the principal who thinks but cannot prove he is the one who tagged the school, and continues to harbor a grudge for Cole’s actions the previous year of protesting standardized testing. Cole’s sense of social responsibility takes on new meaning when not only is his chance at a college scholarship threatened, but so are his friends when the realities of illegal immigration affect them all.
Later, Cole is asked about his poetry assignment and confesses the poems he writes “let me say how I’m feeling, and they make me think.”
The F Words is an enlightening book for middle and high school. While it does contain limited and mild appropriately situational cursing, I recommend it, especially to foment family discussions on social justice and youth activism.”
Bradley –
“The F Words is a fantastic YA novel. The story, set in Chicago, follows Cole, a high school student, who’s having a hard time. His dad is in jail. He’s frustrated. In a moment of anger, he vandalizes the local school, painting the F word on the outside walls. His English teacher catches him, and instead of seeking suspension, the punishment is much more creative: Cole will have to write two poems (about other F words) each week. The novel sets off from here and goes on to tackle complex race and cultural issues. The cast is diverse. The plot is engaging throughout. The book feels timely and important, teaching about the power in and need for activism.
I appreciate how Gregorich uses poetry inside the novel. This adds another depth to the experience of the whole book.
The F Words isn’t just a good book, but it’s also an important one. High school teachers in particular should seek out this one for their classrooms. It’ll certainly be on my bookshelf—if students will put it down, that is.”
Linda Loew –
“I loved this book! It kept me on my toes, looking around the next corner, waiting to hear the bullhorns and the sound of marching protestors approaching. If you’ve ever walked a picket line or carried a protest sign, pumped your fist in the air against injustice and for a better world, you’ll probably feel a surge like I did as the main character Cole, a 10th grader, and his friends & family navigate not just the halls of their high school, but the streets of their Chicago neighborhood.
Cole’s father is a political prisoner in Cook County jail, for his role in leading a struggle against school closures. Cole’s best friend Felipe runs for class president on a social justice platform, while ICE agents patrolling the streets are a constant worry to their classmates. Cole faces many challenges besides getting in trouble for tagging F Words on the school wall.
The F Words are not just what you might think…they’re a jumping off point for much more, from Fortitude to Fury, from Fist to Fire, from Fear to Fighting back…to Friendship.
Besides the physical action, from cross country running, to protest marches, there’s the mental action, the intellectual and cultural growth reflected in Cole’s poems. There’s a great deal more to identify with from tacos to home baked pies. Whether you are a teacher, a parent, or a high school student yourself, I highly recommend this YA novel to everyone, young and older “”youth.”” There’s something for all of us!”
S. Katz –
“I thoroughly enjoyed this fast paced YA novel. Pertinent for teens today but also good reading for an old fogey like myself.
The book has likeable, engaging characters who encounter the unfairness of life and figure out how to protest and deal with it.
The poetry Cole, the main character, writes as a “”punishment”” adds to the story. This book should give teens a lot to think about, whether they agree with it all or not. Hopefully it will spark some worthwhile conversations with others. 5 stars from me!”
Redline –
I noticed the effortless way the author handles the mixture of Spanish and English when bilingual characters and their friends communicate. In a process called: “code switching,” Spanish words are often inserted into predominantly English dialogue especially when emphasis or emotion are needed. In fact, although the vocabulary of the entire novel is easily accessible, it always shows a reverence for words and their meanings.
KIRKUS –
A boy, infuriated with injustices in his world and community, learns how to fight back.
Cole Renner is a White sophomore at August Mersy High School in Chicago. His principal has labeled him a troublemaker for daring to take action against injustices—just like his father, who is currently a prisoner in Cook County Jail after leading a protest to save a neighborhood public school. Struggling with his father’s recent sentencing, Cole lashes out and spray-paints the F-word multiple times on school property. Caught by Mr. Nachman, his English teacher, he is offered a choice: face suspension or clean it off and write two poems every week about other words starting with F. Choosing the latter option, Cole writes about the injustices that surround him and his schoolmates, who are of diverse cultural backgrounds. Despite his initial reluctance, he finds solace in poetry, and it becomes an outlet for each new wrong that Cole and those he cares about face. The teen characters’ discussions of issues such as deportation and racism may inspire young readers who are fed up with witnessing inequities, though this first-person novel tackles many concepts in its five-month timeline, causing events to be rushed and detracting from some of their impact. However, the author admirably showcases the power young people hold when they come together and speak out against a biased system.
Carol Joann –
Realistic and inspiring
“The F Words” features a high-school boy who is wrestling with a lot of big issues. His activist father is in prison; his friends at school are in danger of deportation as undocumented immigrants; and Cole himself is in trouble for defacing school property.
This is a terrific book with realistic characters trying to work out for themselves how to do the right thing. It’s an excellent book to encourage conversation and debate about protest, civic duty, mass incarceration, and deportation of undocumented immigrants.
Children’s Literature –
Cole is spraypainting crude language on his high school’s walls when he is caught by his English teacher, Mr. Nachman. Fortunately, the teacher is willing to strike a deal: If Cole cleans the paint from the walls and writes two poems about “F words” each week until the end of the school year, Mr. Nachman will not report the incident to the principal. He understands that Cole is angry because his father has been sent to prison for protesting the closing of a neighborhood school. That’s not all of the upheaval Cole is dealing with. His friend Felipe runs for tenth-grade class president against Cole’s former girlfriend Jillian. Jillian resents Cole’s support of Felipe and begins to cause him further frustration at school, even after Felipe wins. Then, some classmates who are immigrants are deported. Cole, Felipe, and their friends become involved in protests against the deportations. Finally, Felipe’s own family is threatened. Cole’s weekly poems provide strength to sort through all of the issues he faces. Readers will learn about various types of poetry and see ways of dealing with bullying at school. In turns serious and humorous, this book about making mistakes and standing up for one’s beliefs will resonate long after the final page.