Total Knockout: Tale of an Ex-Class President by Taylor Morris

Lucia Latham is nothing if not driven. She’s going to be elected as president of her junior high school for the third time, a feat never accomplished before. To top that off, Lucia is also a boxer who wakes up extra early every day to practice with her best friend Cooper. Lucie is determined to leave her mark on her junior high school even greater than being a three-time president. But will Lucia know when she is taking it too far? And will she be able to pick herself up if she falls? Total Knockout is Lucia’s story of family, friendship, and personal image problems.

Total Knockout is the slightly humorous but very meaningful story of a young girl learning from her mistakes and fixing them. Lucia’s character is very easy to understand, because I’m sure we’ve all been greedy at one time or another. I found it a little amusing when Lucia didn’t completely think her plans through, but that turned out to be her downfall. Nevertheless, I still like Lucia’s character and was cheering for her to clean up her mess. Some of the other characters, on the other hand, were more difficult for me to understand; they weren’t as well developed because the story was told from Lucia’s point-of-view. The most interesting addition to the plot was Lucia’s boxing, and although I didn’t understand many (or any) of the references to boxers, I did like how Lucia applied boxing principles to her life. I also liked how boxing connected Lucia and her father.

Like Taylor Morris’ other novel, Class Favorite, Total Knockout is most suitable for the middle grade audience. Older readers may enjoy this book too.

Rating: 3.75

Review copy from author Taylor Morris