Dinged

From the award-winning author of Game Changer, Tommy Greenwald, comes a thought-provoking sports novel about football, identity, and the price of success.

Caleb Springer is the star freshman quarterback on his high school football team. With talent, confidence, and college scouts already taking notice, his future seems all but guaranteed.

But as Caleb's football dreams grow brighter, his father, former NFL star Sammy Springer, begins showing troubling signs of memory loss, confusion, and unpredictable behavior. As Caleb watches someone he admires slowly change before his eyes, he is forced to confront an unsettling possibility: the sport that has given his family so much may also have taken something away.

With compelling characters, fast-paced storytelling, and timely themes, Tommy Greenwald explores sports culture, identity, concussion awareness, family expectations, and the difficult choices young athletes face both on and off the field. Readers will find themselves asking a challenging question: When the game you love comes with real risks, what would you do?

Perfect for sports fans, classroom discussion, and reluctant readers, Dinged is a thought-provoking novel that sparks conversation long after the final whistle. 

“A cogent cautionary tale.” —Kirkus Reviews

Read more books in Tommy Greenwald's acclaimed Game Changer series, where sports, mystery, and timely issues collide:

• Game Changer
• Rivals
• Dinged
• The Right Call