David
Klass and Perri Klass
$16.99,
Hardcover
Farrar,
Straus and Giroux, 2013
978-0374379964
Genre:
Sports, Realistic
Age:
12+
Description:
Kendall, New Jersey, is a small town that lives and breathes
football. Jerry Downing is the town’s star quarterback. He has
recently fallen from grace though as he was involved in a drunk
driving car crash that left him with only a few minor cuts and
scrapes but nearly killed another girl—a freshman he didn’t even
know. Carla Jenson is the lead reporter for the Kendall Kourier, the
high school newspaper. She focuses a lot on sports reporting as she
herself was a star soccer player for the school until an ACL injury
took her out of the game—probably for good. In order to help Jerry
get back on his feet she invites him to blog for the newspaper about
the football season from a player’s own perspective. As Carla faces
her own painful surgery to help rehabilitate her leg, she gets more
and more interesting in the science behind sports injuries. When
Jerry’s best friend, Danny, takes a hit during a football game a
little too hard and Carla is forced by the principal to silence her
article about brain injuries in sports until after the championship
game (and quite possibly forever) Carla begins to wonder when an
injury in the game comes attached with a high cost—possibly the
player’s life. Unfortunately for her no one else in town wants to
listen.
Opinion:
First of all, I love the cover! This will be a cover that appeals to
guys who like sports stories but also has a vibe that might get girls
to pick it up. I have nothing against sports stories (when I was
younger in fact some of my favorite books featured sports—Moves
Make the Man by Bruce Brooks and On the Devil’s Court by
Carl Deuker) so I was interested in this story that was part
sports/part realistic investigation into sports injuries. The thing I
disliked the most about the book was that it really did drag quite a
bit. It’s only about 270 pages and it really didn’t get to the
meat of the story until more than half way through. I am also a bit
torn on the fact that the story was actually told in Jerry and
Carla’s blog posts. I think it kind of made the story less active
as all the events where happening after the fact (they happened and
then were being written about). The parts that I loved about the
story were indeed that possibly clichéd elements—Carla’s
interaction with the principal who basically threatens her college
future if she doesn’t hush up her story about brain injuries in
sports made me so friggin’ mad! The fact that she overheard him
calling Jerry bad names and threatens the coach too if he didn’t
play Danny if astonishing. It goes to show how a small town, ignorant
attitude and a “must win” attitude are very bad attitudes to mesh
together. I like that Carla stood up for herself and I wish readers
were told how her mother’s legal battle against the principal ended
up going. The other thing I found myself enjoying was the information
about sports injuries. Obviously Ms. Klass knows her stuff and was
able to make it informative and interesting at the same time. I think
this book, while slow at times, would be a good choice for classroom
or book club discussion as it covers a lot of good pro vs. con
arguments (when are injuries so bad you stop the player from playing,
the attitude of the town to win no matter what the cost, censorship,
etc.).
Thanks
to people at Farrar, Straus, and Giroux for the ARC for the YA Galley
Group!
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