Product Description

Pay It Forward is a wondrous and moving story about Trevor McKinney, a twelve-year-old boy in a small California town who accepts the challenge that his teacher gives his class a chance to earn extra credit by coming up with a plan to change the world for the better -- and to put that plan into action.

The plan that Trevor comes up with is so simple -- and so naïve -- that when others learn of it they are dismissive. Even Trevor himself begins to doubt when his "pay it forward" plan seems to founder on a combination of bad luck and the worst of human nature.

What is his idea? Trevor chooses three people for whom he will do a favor, and then when those people thank him and ask how they might pay him back, he will tell them that instead of paying him back they should each "pay it forward" by choosing three people for whom they can do favors, and in turn telling those people to pay it forward. It's nothing less than a human chain letter of kindness and good will. But will it work?

In the end, Pay It Forward is the story of seemingly ordinary people made extraordinary by the simple faith of a child. In the tradition of the successful and inspirational television show Touched by an Angel, and the phenomenally successful novel and film Forrest Gump, Pay It Forward is a work of charm, wit, and remarkable inspiration, a story of hope for today and for many tomorrows to come.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1404000 in Books
• Published on: 2000-02-01
• Formats: Abridged, Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 4
• Binding: Audio CD

Customer Reviews

Internalize this book, please
Over the years, as I read more and more, my expectations get lower. I often just hope a book will keep me entertained on the train ride home, or distract me before bed. Catherine Ryan Hyde's books continually spoil me, though, and make me miserable with everything else I read for weeks afterward.

Pay It Forward is one of those stories that, like my grandmother says about her favorite books, "Just talks to you, like you're sitting right there in the room!" It's a story about normal people and their normal dreams, which, like most normal dreams, are really extraordinary when they come true.

It's so wonderful to step back from a book with a lovable character and realize that the character doesn't end with the book. It's never over, because the writer -- the character's creator -- is still alive and full of ideas. The idea of paying it forward really does come from a living, thinking person, and what's better, a person with a beautiful voice that just might reach out further than she can imagine.

a story to help bring us FORWARD
When I read this book I was in the midst of an experimental project geared toward preventing child abuse via changing the energy in our community - something of a "Pay It Forward" in action -- reading Hyde's book offered me an affirmative boost that was magical. As soon as I finished reading it, I emailed more than a hundred people about the book - and the local libraries have not been able to keep it on the shelves since. It is an easy premise to put aside with cynicism - if one's choice in life is to hold on to the negative (this can't work, people aren't that way, etc.) and keep out the positive (each of us has the potential to change the world in powerful ways . . . every day). What I'm finding, is that more and more people are opening to joy and love and giving and letting go of control of outcomes (i.e. trusting in doing something wonderful just for the sake of doing it) - and if you're one of those folks, you'll find this book an energy booster, an affirmation, a gift for heart and soul.

Not A Placebo! Restore Your Faith in the Good of People...
Wow! Since I read this book, I've been confined to talking only about IT! Hyde has put on paper what has thus far only been effectively expressed on film. Unlike any other American-centric author, Hyde makes her optimistic view of our country believable. What makes "Pay it Forward" very real is Hyde's acknowledgement of the errors of human beings. What makes this work truly fantastic is proof that America can be made smaller -- truly village-like -- by kindness. She doesn't ask for "random" kindness, but for good deeds to be "paid forward," not back, for other acts of kindness. Catherine Ryan Hyde shows that you, me, anyone can perform mammoth acts for others, without losing what matters; and by doing so, the reader learns, we can change the world (and thereby gain so much more). I sincerely believe that this one book, or the point that Hyde makes, can improve the nature of day-to-day relations between Americans, country-wide, city by city.