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The Underdogs Paperback – May 15, 2012
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Will Tyler may not be the biggest running back around, but no one can touch him when it comes to hitting the hole and finding the end zone. And no one can match his love of the game. When Will has a football in his hand, life can't touch him--his dad isn't so defeated, his town isn't so poor, and everyone has something to cheer for. All of which does him no good if the football season is canceled. With no funding for things like uniforms and a well-maintained playing field, with every other family moving to find jobs, there just isn't enough money or players for a season. It's up to Will to rally the town and give everyone a reason to believe . . .
- Reading age10 - 13 years
- Print length304 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Grade level5 - 6
- Lexile measure840L
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.79 x 8.25 inches
- PublisherViking Books for Young Readers
- Publication dateMay 15, 2012
- ISBN-100142421391
- ISBN-13978-0142421390
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“There's plenty of action for sports fans, and readers will root for Will and his teammates till the very last page.” –School Library Journal
“[F]ootball fans will…respond to the detailed and exciting game action once the season gets rolling and find inspiration in Will and his teammates' tenacity.” –Publisher’s Weekly
“Will's ingenuity and loyalty are encouraging, causing readers to want to cheer him on as he makes his dream come true.” –VOYA
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1
Just about everybody who’d ever seen Will Tyler play said the same thing—that he could fly on a football field.
He was definitely flying now.
Ball tucked firmly in the bend of his arm, open field in front of him. A slight wind at his back. Not that he needed it.
At midfield he made an effortless cut to his left, switching the ball from his right hand to his left in the process.
Will did it without even thinking, did it on instinct, one more move that nobody had to teach him. Not even his dad, who’d been a star running back in this same town, on this same field. Back when the field was in much better shape. And the town was, too.
But Will’s dad always said that even on his best days, all the way through high school, he was never as fast as Will.
“You’ve got that gear,” he told Will once.
“What gear?”
“That extra gear that the great ones have,” Joe Tyler said.
Will shifted into that gear now.
Flying, like the wind at Shea Field wasn’t just behind him, it was trying to keep up with him. At the thirty he cut back again, back to his right, angling toward the sideline. Switching the ball back to his right hand. Imagining that he was watching himself on one of those giant screens most NFL stadiums have now, pretending he was trying to see if anybody was gaining on him.
Knowing that nobody would be.
Twenty-yard line now.
Fifteen.
Only the end zone ahead of him.
And that’s when he went down.
He hadn’t been tackled. He’d stepped into a hole at the five-yard line. He hadn’t seen it because he had his eye on the prize, like always. Just felt his right foot go into it, the leg collapsing, like he’d been tripped. Like he’d been caught from behind. Just like that.
Will was mad. The beat-up field at Shea was the only thing that could stop him. And it had. And had cost him a touchdown. Of course he knew it could have been worse, he could have rolled an ankle or hurt his knee the way his dad had once. It had been his senior year in high school. His dad hadn’t stepped into a hole, though. He’d just made a cut into the secondary and thought he was about to break into the clear when he got hit by tacklers from both sides, at the same exact moment, their helmets meeting at his right knee.
In so many ways, too many ways for Will to even count, it was a hit from which his dad still hadn’t recovered.
Will had gone down hard but knew he was all right, knew he would have no trouble getting back up. The only burn he was feeling now was embarrassment.
The same he’d felt last season after the fumble against Castle Rock.
He sat there, ball under his arm, thinking:
It’s a good thing I’m alone.
Alone with his ball, alone on this field, no teammates or opponents there to see him trip and go down, nobody to see somebody this good at football look so bad.
He turned and saw how deep the hole was. One of many at Shea Field, a field that the town seemed to have forgotten, or maybe just given up on, the way it was about to give up on a football team and a football season for twelve-year-olds like Will Tyler.
The town council of Forbes had made it clear a couple of weeks earlier that there wasn’t enough money in the budget to finance all the local sports teams, as it had in the past. They’d said that some of the younger age groups might have to suffer so that no programs were cut at Forbes High School. They’d said it was more expensive than ever to finance football teams, telling the parents there had been barely enough in the budget to let Will’s eleven-year-old team compete last season in the West River Youth Football League, Forbes’s version of Pop Warner. Now unless somebody in town could come up with the money in a few weeks, enough money to cover membership in the league, helmets, uniforms, field maintenance, emergency services, insurance—what Will’s dad called “the full boat”—there would be no football for twelve-year-olds this year.
No team, no practices, no games, no shot at the league title Forbes had come within a touchdown of winning last season.
Maybe, Will thought—alone on this field, two yards short of the end zone—a run like this in an imaginary game would be the only kind he would get to make this year.
Product details
- Publisher : Viking Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (May 15, 2012)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 304 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0142421391
- ISBN-13 : 978-0142421390
- Reading age : 10 - 13 years
- Lexile measure : 840L
- Grade level : 5 - 6
- Item Weight : 10.4 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.79 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #150,257 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #91 in Children's Football Books (Books)
- #108 in Children's Basketball Books (Books)
- #1,679 in Children's School Issues
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
![Mike Lupica](https://cdn.statically.io/img/m.media-amazon.com/images/I/31eVSrMgWtL._SY600_.jpg)
Mike Lupica is one of the most prominent sports writers in America. His longevity at the top of his field is based on his experience and insider's knowledge, coupled with a provocative presentation that takes an uncompromising look at the tumultuous world of professional sports. Today he is a syndicated columnist for the New York Daily News, which includes his popular “Shooting from the Lip” column, which appears every Sunday. He began his newspaper career covering the New York Knicks for the New York Post at age 23. He became the youngest columnist ever at a New York paper with the New York Daily News, which he joined in 1977. For more than 30 years, Lupica has added magazines, novels, sports biographies, other non-fiction books on sports, as well as television to his professional resume. For the past fifteen years, he has been a TV anchor for ESPN's The Sports Reporters. He also hosted his own program, The Mike Lupica Show on ESPN2. In 1987, Lupica launched “The Sporting Life” column in Esquire magazine. He has published articles in other magazines, including Sport, World Tennis, Tennis, Golf Digest, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, ESPN: The Magazine, Men's Journal and Parade. He has received numerous honors, including the 2003 Jim Murray Award from the National Football Foundation. Mike Lupica co-wrote autobiographies with Reggie Jackson and Bill Parcells, collaborated with noted author and screenwriter, William Goldman on Wait Till Next Year, and wrote The Summer of '98, Mad as Hell: How Sports Got Away from the Fans and How We Get It Back and Shooting From the Lip, a collection of columns. In addition, he has written a number of novels, including Dead Air, Extra Credits, Limited Partner, Jump, Full Court Press, Red Zone, Too Far and national bestsellers Wild Pitch and Bump and Run. Dead Air was nominated for the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best First Mystery and became a CBS television move, “Money, Power, Murder” to which Lupica contributed the teleplay. Over the years he has been a regular on the CBS Morning News, Good Morning America and The MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour. On the radio, he has made frequent appearances on Imus in the Morning since the early 1980s. His previous young adult novels, Travel Team, Heat, Miracle on 49th Street, and the summer hit for 2007, Summer Ball, have shot up the New York Times bestseller list. Lupica is also what he describes as a “serial Little League coach,” a youth basketball coach, and a soccer coach for his four children, three sons and a daughter. He and his family live in Connecticut.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the storyline great and excellent for elementary school children. They also appreciate the writing quality as very good and fun.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the storyline great, touching, and suspenseful. They also say the book has conflict, reality, and a 12 year old football team.
"...5 stars because of the development of characters and the perfect plot and storyline...." Read more
"...I like it that way. This book is good, clean, and inspirational...." Read more
"I think this book is good for boys and girls, it is a really inspirational story about a girl joining the football team and them winning the..." Read more
"I loved it. It had it all. Conflict, suspense, reality...." Read more
Customers find the book excellent for elementary school children and good for many ages. They also say it keeps them interested.
"...Nice lesson but, of course, it has nothing to do with real life. In fairness, the dad does represent that perspective...." Read more
"It is a great story about kids that have overcome big problems to play their favorite sport-football. Easy and fun to read." Read more
"...I read it with him and loved the characters and the story. Very age appropriate and fun to read." Read more
"...He loves these books. They are also popular in the school library in the elementary school where I work." Read more
Customers find the writing quality of the book very good. They also say the book isn't edgy or emo.
"Good book with solid, traditional lessons for young readers. Nicely written and no vulgarity or sex...." Read more
"Mike Lupica writes great books! My sons are not big readers but really enjoy reading the Mike Lupica book series...." Read more
"This book isn't edgy or emo. This book doesn't have sex or drugs. I like it that way. This book is good, clean, and inspirational...." Read more
"This is a very good writer if you haven't read one of his books start here hero is a another good book by Mike lupica if your kid read sporty books..." Read more
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A a d f g g g h y. R c g u g d g I needed these letters to get the word limit.
Not so much for adults. Kid is overly wise for 7th grade and everything works out in the end because the kids meant well and tried hard. Nice lesson but, of course, it has nothing to do with real life. In fairness, the dad does represent that perspective. Still, a bit naive for anyone beyond grade school.
Get it, but get it for your kids.,