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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Chan Jung Kim has always been popular. But that was when he lived in L.A. and was the star of his soccer team. Now his family's moved—to a tiny town in Minnesota, where football's the name of the game and nobody has ever seen an Asian American family before. Desperate to fit in, Chan throws himself into the game—but he feels like an outsider. For the first time in his life, he finds himself thinking about what it really means to be Korean—and what is really important. By turns gripping, painful, funny, and illuminating, Necessary Roughness introduces a major new talent and a fresh young voice to the Harper list.

1997 Best Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
1998 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)

Customer Reviews: Read 21 more reviews...

3 out of 5 stars

Prejudice February 25, 2007
Chan is in the summer before his senior year in high school in L.A. when his father announces that the family is going to move to take over a store Chan's uncle bought and then abandoned. Chan can't complain much--his Korean-born parents think he should be obedient and respectful like his twin sister Young. So the family of four moves from the community where they are well known and accepted, where they own a successful store and there are many other Korean families. They drive to Minnesota and settle in a small town with no other Asians at all. There is no soccer team for Chan and no orchestra for Young, and both twins are discriminated against by their classmates.

Then Chan and Young start settling into their new life. Chan is recruited as a kicker for the football team and Young joins the band. Both make some friends, and Chan is even able to start to relate to his father a little bit. Will they ever feel totally at home in their new town?

I really liked Chan's narration. He was very strong, and his relationship with Young was great. The two were very different, but completely supportive of each other. I found myself a bit confused about the amount of prejudice experienced by Chan and Young. Perhaps prejudice is just more prevalent than I think, but it seemed a bit extreme for this day and age. I disliked the ending of this book; I didn't see the point of the crucial event.

5 out of 5 stars

Necessary Roughness By: Marie G. Lee November 28, 2006
This book is about a Korean boy named Chan who is the star player on his soccer team and moved from L.A. to Iron River, Minnesota. Chan isn't exactly the most popular kid at his High School but a guy named Mikko (All-Pro) asks if he wants to be the kicker for the football team, at first Chan hesitates but after Mikko convinces him he goes for it. Football isn't easy, Drills, workout 'till you puke, and big games with a big risk of injury. Chan never got badly injured... Oh i should let you read the book so you can see how good it is!!!! I definitely recommend this book to anyone!!!!!!

5 out of 5 stars

This is a great book!!! April 25, 2006
0 out of 2 found this review helpful

Chan Kim is a kid who loves soccer, and his life. But when they move into a tiny town called Minnesota then his whole life changes. His family is the only Asian family in Minnesota. When Chan meets Allpro after the first couple of days at school he is talked into joining the football team as a kicker. He ends up joining soccer because there isn't soccer in Minnesota. He was planning on just being a field goal kicker but his coach said it was a rule to have more than one position so he became a running back. Chan had to have the necessary roughness to become a football player. Which he learned on his first practice. On his first practice Chan had an okay practice, but at the end of the practice the team had to do sprints until somebody vomits. Then a few weeks later his first season started. Although Chan didn't get a chance to play his first game it was made up to him by him kicking the winning field goal in the second game of the season which led to him being a starting kicker for the rest of the season. Then after the season they found out that they made it to the playoffs; where Chan leads his team to the championships but if you want to find out if they win the championship then you'll have to read the book.

In this book I like the fact that this is about football. Because those are my favorite kind of books I like. Also another thing I liked it when Chan got into his first football tryouts even though his team already had football tryouts. I liked this because it showed that not all football coaches are mean like some people think. I didn't like it when they said the only reason football is a popular sport is because it gives them a chance to drink. I didn't like this because I thought that it wasn't right to say something like that. I also didn't like it when people would make fun of Chan just because he was Asian until he joined football. I didn't like this because I thought that it could set a bad example on future kids in America.

If you like books that are sporty then you will definitely like this book. I would also recommend it to you if you like just a little bit of violence in you're books. But if you don't like fiction books then I wouldn't recommend this to you. I wouldn't re commend it to you because this would bore you

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