Top Prospect

by Paul Volponi

Overview

Travis Gardner lives to play quarterback.

He's a standout QB by middle school, and he's prepared to put everything he has into the game. Then Gainesville University's head coach makes Travis a promise: Travis will have a place on the team, and a scholarship to go with it. He just has to get through high school first.

As Travis starts ninth grade, he'll have to earn his teammates' trust and dodge opponents aiming to sack the star quarterback. But his biggest challenge might be staying focused in the face of sudden fame. Because now the pressure is on, and Travis has to prove himself with every pass.

"Travis' love for the game . . . seems absolutely authentic. This engaging read will resonate with middle schoolers, especially aspiring athletes."—Booklist

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467794336
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/01/2016
Series:	Fiction - Middle Grade
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.20(d)
Lexile:	760L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 10 Years

About the Author

Paul Volponi is an award-winning author who lives in Queens, New York. He holds an MA in American Literature and regularly makes school visits and holds Skype conferences.

Editorial Reviews

"Travis' love for the game . . . seems absolutely authentic. This engaging read will resonate with middle schoolers, especially aspiring athletes."—Booklist

From the Publisher

07/01/2016
Gr 6–10—Eighth grader Travis Gardner is a standout quarterback in his Pop Warner league. Besides coping with academic struggles and making fumbling attempts at romance with best friend Damon's twin sister, Lyn, Travis also deals with his parents' divorce and a strained relationship with an absent and distant dad. Shortly after his older brother, Carter, is awarded a football scholarship to Gainesville University (a barely disguised University of Florida), Travis receives his own scholarship offer from the storied Gators coach, possibly as a distraction from an NCAA investigation. Readers follow Travis through his first season of high school football, his budding celebrity status via an ESPN appearance and a popular Twitter account, a flirtation with steroids as the result of an elbow injury, and shady interactions with a deep-pocketed Gators booster offering "money handshakes" to players. The narrative is told mostly by Travis, though brief interludes from Carter, in addition to news articles from The Gainesville Sentinel, offer different perspectives. Descriptions of the teen's games are dense with football talk and would be difficult for a nonfan to follow, though they might serve as a hook for gridiron junkies. Despite some compelling drama, the exposition is awkward at times and metaphors are often clichéd ("butterflies did cartwheels inside my stomach"). An afterword relates that the novel was inspired by the stories of several middle school athletes who have been recruited by top colleges in recent years. VERDICT Purchase where there is a high interest in football and where books for reluctant readers are needed.—Bob Hassett, Luther Jackson Middle School, Falls Church, VA

School Library Journal

2016-06-01
Plenty of play-by-play peppers this inside look at America's top game, with a focus on early recruitment of elite high school athletes. Way early. Following in older brother Carter's football trail brings Travis to the attention of a top coach at nearby Gainesville University. When Travis is in the seventh grade, Carter commits to Gainesville—and the coach is impressed enough with Travis to offer the 13-year-old white boy a scholarship before he starts eighth grade. Suddenly, the off-field games of media and popularity are coming full tilt at both brothers. Travis' visions of glory, his sudden need to be smart in an ESPN interview, and his struggles dealing with injury and loss are all described in Travis' narration, supplemented by Carter's quick commentary between chapters and occasional insertions of interviews and media reports. That naïve Travis lacks the emotional maturity to complement the strength of his game is not surprising. An absent father who has a new family in California complicates the home scene, while the mother who has been their support and guide surprisingly never quite comes into focus. A subplot about Carter's black teammate and roommate, Alex, relies on stereotype to illustrate the underside of college ball. With an astute sense of his audience, Volponi in the end returns readers to the love of the game that should be the heart of any athlete who wants to succeed in playing at the highest level. Absorbing if flawed. (Fiction. 12-16)

Kirkus Reviews