Rhino's Run

“You can’t play it safe when you’re the captain.”

From celebrated author Robert Lipsyte, this powerful coming-of-age follows high school football player Ronnie "Rhino" Rhinehart after a violent incident at school leaves him questioning everything he ever believed.

Ronnie Rhinehart, better known as Rhino on the field, is the captain of his high school team in Woodhaven, a small town obsessed with football. His only goal is to earn a Division I football scholarship so he can escape this town forever. Until the day he punches Josh Kremens in the face.

To avoid serious punishment and stay in school, Ronnie is forced to join Group, a cast of misfits who discuss their feelings with a counselor. At the same time, tensions are rising on the football team. Not everyone is happy that Ronnie, a junior, was named captain, especially Cogan and his friends the Berserkers. Other than his best friend, Andy, Ronnie struggles to find solace and support, even at home, where his dad puts pressure on him to maintain his role on the team. Reluctantly, Ronnie finds himself liking aspects of Group, even if he isn’t always a welcome presence to the other members. Then one fateful day, Keith, another Group member, comes to school with a gun . . . and everything changes.
Teen Sports Fiction: As team captain, Rhino lives for the game. But when a violent outburst threatens his scholarship, he discovers the toughest battles are fought off the field.Toxic Masculinity: Between a teammate dead set on taking him down and a father who only cares about the next win, Rhino is forced to question what it really means to be a man.Finding Your Voice: Forced into a therapy group with the school’s misfits, Rhino starts a journal and begins to find a strength he never knew he had—one that has nothing to do with the football field.Social Justice Issues: A thought-provoking and timely novel that unflinchingly tackles the reality of school violence and the debate over gun control through the eyes of a teen athlete.