Game Changers by Mike Lupica

I'm not a sports fan, but I am a fan of kids finding books they want to read, so I read across all genres and even pick up a sports book from time to time.

My favorite sports author for young readers is Mike Lupica because he doesn't just write about sports although each of his stories seems like it is about sports. He writes about the human condition, about caring, about helping others, about bullies, about friendship, and about worries, fears, and doubts.

His novel Game Changers is about Ben who is kind of small, but he has a huge heart. He wants to be quarterback for his team, he should be quarterback for his team, but his coach wants his own son as quarterback. Ben's coach is a former professional quarterback and has groomed his son to be just like him.

I like this book because the parents and the coach seem real. They are good people. I like this book because Ben is an old soul, years more mature then his actual age. I like the friendships in this book, and Ben's ability to lead and help others. What I really like is that if I have a football loving student who doesn't necessarily like reading, he or she will probably enjoy this book.

Several years ago, I had a baseball loving student who didn't enjoy reading, but after I read Heat by Mick Lupica, I went to this boy and told him I had just finished a book about baseball, but the baseball vocabulary was too much for me. I asked him if would be willing to read it to see if it made sense and was a book I should add to the class library because I didn't understand all the baseball lingo. I told him that because of his baseball experience, I knew he would know if the author was using the vocabulary correctly.

Of course he was up for the challenge, and at the end of a week - a very short time for this young man to read a book - came back and said it was a very good book that belonged in my class libary, and the author used the words correctly. Part of being an English and reading teacher is knowing books and knowing your students. This is why I read books that don't necessarily interest me. I want to know which authors' books to hand to students.

Over the years, Lupica has been my go to sport story writer as his characters have depth and the stories are about more than the final score.

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

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