Leverage
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
AN ALA FOR YOUNG ADULTS PICK • A relevant book about bullies, their victims, and a high school football team where winning is the only thing that matters.
“Sometimes there’s a book so powerful and so ruthlessly brilliant that it makes you gasp and cheer. Leverage is that book.”—Carrie Jones, New York Times bestselling author of Need
“Leverage proves that no matter how bleak our past is, our fate, in the end, is in our own hands.”—Mohammed Naseehu Ali, author of The Prophet of Zongo Street
“About as dark and disturbing as YA literature gets.”—School Library Journal
There’s an extraordinary price for victory at Oregrove High.
It is paid on—and off—the football field. And it claims its victims without mercy—including the most innocent bystanders. When a violent, steroid-infused, ever-escalating prank war has devastating consequences, an unlikely friendship between a talented but emotionally damaged fullback and a promising gymnast might hold the key to a school’s salvation.
Told in alternating voices and with unapologetic truth, Leverage illuminates the fierce loyalty, flawed justice, and hard-won optimism of two young athletes.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cohen's debut offers a timely look at bullying, although coincidences and an over-the-top portrayal of the bullies undercuts the message at times. At Oregrove High, a trio of steroid-fueled football players bullies everyone, including the players in other sports, such as gymnastics. Danny is a high-bar specialist who does his best to stay out of their way, but an escalating war between the two squads draws him and his teammates in; when tragedy strikes, Danny is one of the few who know that the bullies are responsible. Another witness is Kurt, a stuttering abuse survivor and fullback who has just transferred to Oregrove. As the two teens cope with their guilt over their inaction during and after the shocking events, they are forced to confront both the bullies and their own insecurities. The central tragedy is gripping, as is Kurt's heartbreaking past, but the gratuitous thuggery of the bullies and their steroid-pushing coach more often feels like a scene out of Glee than out of real life, and the resolution is pat and unrealistic. Scenes of sexual violence may disturb some, but are appropriate to the plot and well-handled. Ages 14 up.
