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Summary: Mind expanding concept!
Review: The concept for "Pay it Forward" has been explained by now. I would like to give kudos to Catherine Ryan Hyde for her stellar writing. The three different ways that Trevor attempts to put his own theory into practice are not what you'd expect. I enjoy books that aren't predictable and that is just what you'll get with this novel. Some of the key elements are just too good to give away. I would also highly recommend her previous novel "Funeral for Horses", if you are a girl who has ever owned or dreamed of owning a horse, this novel takes it one step beyond. I'm looking forward to whatever else Hyde publishes in the future, because I'm sure it'll be just as good and thought provoking.
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Summary: A Positive Book in a sometimes negative world.
Review: I really loved "Pay It Forward". The message of the book is one that everyone should adopt. As a Children's Specialist in a public library, I really think that people need a positive message like this book gives. It is never too late to take up Trevor's cause. I have been doing it all my life even though sometimes it can be discouraging.
Rating:
Summary: Positive book for a mostly negative world.
Review: I really loved "Pay It Forward". I am a Children'sSpecialist at a Maryland public library and this book really made mefeel validated. All my life I have tried to help others and sometimes it is very discouraging. The story of Trevor and his plan is a must read. I reccomend it highly! Sometimes in our day to day lives we need a story with a positive message.
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Summary: Three by three we can change the world
Review: This book was recommended by a good friend and I am very glad I listened! I was so touched by the story and its innate premise and the potential to change the world, that I cried through most of it. I gave a copy to the minister of my church, who then based a sermon on it. Now people in the church have formed a group to promote the Pay It Forward concept in our community. Read, enjoy, be touched and then Pay It Foward, too!
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Summary: "Catch it and Pass it on"
Review: PAY IT FORWARD - WHAT A MARVELOUS IDEA! In our small community in the North Georgia Mountains this book and its idea "Pay It Forward" has really caught on - it is being embraced by the local Child Abuse Council to empower the children and their families. Personally, I keep telling people about the concept and then say: "Catch it and pass it on". Hurrah! for Catherine Ryan Hyde I hope this idea takes off like "Random Acts of Kindness" did a few years ago. We need it!
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Summary: A Good Read
Review: I settled into "Pay it Forward" one night, and two later I was finished. The book takes the reader on a sweet journey of possibility. Of course, if one is inclined 'not' to believe in such things as a Field of Dreams, Miracles on 34th Street, or even in large rabbits that are life changing, then I can recommend a good book about the Subversion of American Democracy. Me, I like to get away from that sometimes. I guess Kevin, Helen, and the rest of the cast that wanted to be in "Pay it Forward," believe in miracles, too. Good for them. The book flows from beginning to end, without a hiccup that stops the reader. The concept is touching, and the book has inspired me to pass on a kindness or two. Now, when I let a person go ahead of me in the grocery line, or lend a quarter, I silently hope that they will do the same for someone else. At these moments I realize "Pay it Forward," has started in me. Good job, Ms. Hyde. May the next falling star grant your "forward" wish.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Premise/Horrible Execution
Review: The premise was great, but the writing seemed like a skeleton of what it could have been. Okay, the plot was well constructed and the scenes were well outlined; but the writing was very rough around the edges. Gave you the feeling this was a first draft. Hyde's style was flat, characters and relationships were left hardly developed, and you got the sense that Hyde just didn't put the time into making the characters fully dimensional. (Afterward, I heard that the film rights were sold before the book was even written, which makes sense because the novel really seems like an afterthought.) The author uses an interesting device to glue the scenes together--weaving excerpts of the young boy's diary (whose voice, I might add, is hardly believable), together with a journalist's interviews. Unfortunately, this device, however clever it may be, merely interrupts the pacing and calls way too much attention to itself. Still--I'll have to see the movie, because what you're reading here is essentially a pretty good screenplay. (And hey, Kevin Spacey is starring. Wait for the movie!)
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Summary: Both Sides of the Coin
Review: In Pay it Forward, Catherine Ryan Hyde gives us both sides of our world's coin. Folks scrape by from paycheck to paycheck. Addicts try hard to stay straight, but aren't always successful. People sweat, swear, and laugh to make their way in a tough world. Still, one kid with one great idea has the power to change the world.
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Summary: The message of the book is what shouldn't be missed.
Review: My mother, if you met her, you would be impressed that she is tough and tough minded, can't finish the book, because she keeps crying (why she can't bear what she thinks will be the ending, I finally found out.) It starts with a boy named Trevor. If you think a boy couldn't think up an idea like this, maybe you will have a problem (and you don't know how genius works.) But I know enough kids and geniuses, I know this is possible. It might take a mathematician to write the formula, but just that kind of kid to say, "if you want to pay me back, do three good deeds, and ask them to do the same thing." Yes, there is daring in the good deeds, and unexpected characters are touched. Anyone who thinks this book is too saccharine, I dare them to read Funerals for Horses. They both have the same point of view, faith in the human spirit, if unexpected, and they are both pure Catherine Ryan Hyde.
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Summary: Inspired and Inspiring Page-Turner
Review: Courageous account of the powerful impact a simple concept and a single individual can have on society, if that idea is acted upon with conviction and determination. Its courage lies in the author's simple (but not simplistic) statement of faith in humanity in these times of rampant disillusion and cynicism, particularly since Hyde's profound awareness and insights into the darker complexities of the human soul are apparent in her previously published short stories ("Earthquake Weather") and novel ("Funerals For Horses)."
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