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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
<p>Gordon Korman's acclaimed and timely YA novel explores the dangerous side of high school contact sports.</p><p>Marcus is new in town and is hoping to make the championship high school football team, but it seems like a closed club, run by current star quarterback Troy.</p><p>One day, while tossing the ball around in a park one day, Marcus meets Charlie, a man in his fifties who can play football like an old pro, which is exactly what he happens to be — a former NFL player and local celebrity. Charlie has boundless energy and coaches Marcus on his fear of being tackled, but as Marcus becomes more involved in this friendship with Charlie, it becomes painfully obvious to him, through the simplicity of Charlie's thoughts, that the long-term effects of the violent plays he suffered during his football glory days have taken their toll on Charlie.</p><p>With wit and sensitivity, Gordon Korman tackles truths about high school sports, while delivering a poignant story about an unlikely friendship.</p>
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Shortly after moving to a new town, Marcus encounters Charlie, a strange, middle-aged man who turns out to be an incredible football player. Marcus, hoping to be a varsity quarterback at his new school, begins meeting Charlie regularly. Charlie is a challenging and rewarding opponent, but there are mysteries about him that plague Marcus ("It was annoying, but waiting to see if Charlie was going to show up soon became Marcus's personal reality TV show"). Most puzzling: "For some reason, he thought he was a teenager, too." At school, Marcus loses the quarterback position to school hero Troy Charlie's son. Troy is oddly guarded about his father, but Marcus eventually figures out Charlie's secret: the repeated blows the former NFL player received resulted in early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Korman (The Juvie Three) skillfully weaves football terminology into the narrative without making it sound like a playbook, and Marcus's heartfelt loyalty to Charlie is believable, if the plotting is occasionally less so. Despite the athletic focus, this thought-provoking story is, at its core, about friendship and should have broad appeal. Ages 12 up.
