From the Publisher
Along with tackling the deadly hazards of concussions, this novel offers a bulletin to readers facing life-altering changes, telling them that they might not have to go through them alone... Provocative entry centered on a sizzling topic.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Herbach’s story explodes on the page with Isaiah’s searching self-reflection. Football fans will love the grace and elegance with which the game is described, yet technical detail never overwhelms the story about a wily, articulate teen desperately trying to envision a future for himself by building a new game plan.” — ALA Booklist
“Herbach tackles the controversy surrounding the risks of one of America’s favorite pastimes... Older readers will find this book interesting, as they are kept in suspense as to the reasons behind characters’ actions. This vivid story is for fans of John Coy’s Crackback and Tommy Greenwald’s Game Changer.” — School Library Journal
Praise for HOOPER: “Lessons on small-town politics and what it means to be a good friend abound in this well-plotted work.” — ALA Booklist
“Herbach’s ability to expand the narrative from solid game play to confronting racial injustice is remarkable. No one here is perfect, and their failures make readers cringe yet root for success. Hoops and so much more.” — Kirkus Reviews
“There’s much to love in this sports tale. Fast-paced play-by-plays vividly depict the speed and beauty of the game. Adam’s backstory is heartrending and with immigrant mistrust and nonviolent protests in the national spotlight, this is a timely and realistic teen drama and swish—nothin’ but net.” — School Library Journal
“This sports/school/domestic drama checks all the boxes. What could be another boilerplate basketball novel benefits from a tight cast of well developed secondary characters who surpass their expected stereotypes.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“Funny, gut-wrenching, and spilling over with heart, Hooper is an uplifting breath of joy, and gives us all cause to be hopeful. I loved it!” — Andrew Smith, Michael L. Printz Honor and New York Times Bestselling author of Winger and Grasshopper Jungle
“Fresh, funny, thoughtful, subversive, and totally absorbing. Book of the year!” — Robert Lipsyte, Margaret A. Edwards award-winning author of The Contender
“Hooper is a slam dunk! A sports novel with incredible action and tons of heart. I challenge you not to fall in love with these terrific, flawed characters, and just try to put this one down once you start. Impossible.” — Bill Konigsberg, Award-Winning Author of Honestly Ben
“Raw, funny, and deeply honest, Geoff Herbach gifts us a story about the messiness of life and the importance of talking about it—ultimately showing us how to not only trudge through it, but to soar.” — Gae Polisner, author of In Sight of Stars and The Memory of Things
“Author Geoff Herbach has a remarkable ability to create characters who make us laugh and think, sometimes within the same sentence. Read Hooper and let your self be changed.” — John Coy, author of Gap Life
“Geoff Herbach captures rural-urban rivalries and the challenges of finding a home.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
Andrew Smith
Funny, gut-wrenching, and spilling over with heart, Hooper is an uplifting breath of joy, and gives us all cause to be hopeful. I loved it!
Bill Konigsberg
Hooper is a slam dunk! A sports novel with incredible action and tons of heart. I challenge you not to fall in love with these terrific, flawed characters, and just try to put this one down once you start. Impossible.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
This sports/school/domestic drama checks all the boxes. What could be another boilerplate basketball novel benefits from a tight cast of well developed secondary characters who surpass their expected stereotypes.
ALA Booklist
Herbach’s story explodes on the page with Isaiah’s searching self-reflection. Football fans will love the grace and elegance with which the game is described, yet technical detail never overwhelms the story about a wily, articulate teen desperately trying to envision a future for himself by building a new game plan.
Robert Lipsyte
Fresh, funny, thoughtful, subversive, and totally absorbing. Book of the year!
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Geoff Herbach captures rural-urban rivalries and the challenges of finding a home.
John Coy
Author Geoff Herbach has a remarkable ability to create characters who make us laugh and think, sometimes within the same sentence. Read Hooper and let your self be changed.”
Gae Polisner
Raw, funny, and deeply honest, Geoff Herbach gifts us a story about the messiness of life and the importance of talking about it—ultimately showing us how to not only trudge through it, but to soar.”
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
This sports/school/domestic drama checks all the boxes. What could be another boilerplate basketball novel benefits from a tight cast of well developed secondary characters who surpass their expected stereotypes.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
This sports/school/domestic drama checks all the boxes. What could be another boilerplate basketball novel benefits from a tight cast of well developed secondary characters who surpass their expected stereotypes.
School Library Journal
09/20/2019
Gr 9 Up-Isaiah has a difficult choice to make: listen to his mother and stop playing football or keep playing and risk his life. His dislike of school landed him in a bad way with his family. After his sister Hannah dies in a car accident, football is the only thing holding Isaiah together. His inability to control his impulses caused him to make a huge mistake at his sister's funeral, and his parents gave him the choice to keep playing football or go to a group home. After taking a hard hit in a game, he hears strange noises like witch whistles in his head. Now, if he keeps playing, he runs the risk of permanent brain damage. Mom and Dad are separated and must come together to help Isaiah take the right path. Grace, Isaiah's love interest since eighth grade, also gives him support after a long absence. Herbach tackles the controversy surrounding the risks of one of America's favorite pastimes. This book jumps back and forth from the present to the past, which could make it confusing to younger readers. Older readers will find this book interesting, as they are kept in suspense as to the reasons behind characters' actions. VERDICT This vivid story is for fans of John Coy's Crackback and Tommy Greenwald's Game Changer.-Amy Lukich, Tinley Park Public Library, IL
Kirkus Reviews
2019-06-05
A troubled Wisconsin teenager finds solid ground and grievous injury alike on the gridiron.
If a whole family could be said to suffer from PTSD it would be Isaiah's, devastated by sudden, violent deaths. Bad friends and behavior have seemingly locked him in a downward spiral—until his parents offer a choice of football or a group home. In football, Isaiah not only finds salutary physical and mental challenges, but a perfect outlet for the destructive tendencies driven by his rage and grief. When the latest in a series of concussions leaves him struggling to cover up some scary symptoms, though, an agonizing dilemma presents itself: to walk away from both commitments to teammates and the source of his prized, hard-won stability or to stay on and risk permanent damage? By surrounding Isaiah with a supporting cast that, from ineffectual parents to clueless coaches and an alcoholic former girlfriend, seems notably weak on "support" potential, Herbach (Hooper, 2018, etc.) gives his conflicted narrator agency to make his own decision…but also sets up a climactic round of revelations and confessions that reveal those individuals to be less feeble than he supposed. Along with tackling the deadly hazards of concussions, this novel offers a bulletin to readers facing life-altering changes, telling them that they might not have to go through them alone. A lack of physical descriptions points to a white default. Backmatter not seen.
Provocative entry centered on a sizzling topic. (Sports fiction. 15-18)
