Middle Grade Monday and Audiobook Review: Kareem Between by Shifa Saltagi Safadi

Image: Penguin Random House

Kareem Between by Shifa Saltagi Safadi. Unabridged e-audio, ~3 hrs. Narrated by Peter Romano. Books on Tape/ Listening Library, September, 2024. Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library.

Middle Grade Monday features Kareem Between by Shifa Salvage Safadi. Kareem isn't too excited about starting seventh grade in 2016. His best friend moved away, he was cut from the football team, and his mother expects him to befriend a new Syrian boy whose family recently immigrated. Kareem was born in America, struggles to learn Arabic, loves the Chicago Bear and all things football. When the school bully, who happens to be quarterback of the football team promises Kareem a place on the team if he does a project for him, Kareem knows he shouldn't, but wants to be part of the team so badly, he does. Of course, it isn't only one assignment, but Kareem is stuck.

When his grandfather who lives in Syria falls ill, Kareem's mother travels there to arrange for her parents' transfer to the United States, but becomes stuck in Syria when then-President Trump's Muslim Ban goes into effect.

I read this one with my ears and the narrator did a good job, especially pronouncing the Arabic that is woven throughout.

This novel in verse flows lyrically, but the visual structure of the poems also convey meaning, so I reread it with my eyes. It's a short, powerful read that should resonate long after the story ends.

Kareem Between won the National Book Award/ Literature for Young People earlier this fall and appeared on several Best Books lists as well. 

Fact Friday: Change the Game: a Graphic Novel by Colin Kaepernick and Eve L. Ewing.

Image: Scholastic Inc.

Change the Game: a Graphic Novel by Colin Kaepernick and Eve L. Ewing. Illustrated by Orlando Caicedo. 144p. Graphix/ Scholastic Inc., March, 2023. 9781338789652. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Happy penultimate Friday of the school year! Can you tell that penultimate is one of my favorite words? Fact Friday features Change the Game: a Graphic Novel by Colin Kaepernick. Young Colin was a multi-sport student athlete at his high school. Adopted by white parents, and attending a predominantly white school, Colin experienced casual racism daily. He was being scouted by colleges to play baseball thanks to his fastball, but he has doubts about playing baseball. No colleges expressed an interest in having him play football. 

This graphic novel conveys Colin Kaepernick's gradual coming of age thoughtfully, interspersing some excellent sports sequences. I'm not sure how many middle school students are aware of Mr. Kaepernick* or his social justice activism, but fans of football and baseball as well as graphic novel memoirs will enjoy this thoughtful entry.

*The Monday after Mr. Kaepernick first took a knee, I was standing behind an eighth grader who liked to stir the waters. He took a knee during the pledge, then looked around and saw me. He stood up immediately. I called him aside and told him that if he was taking a knee on principle and in support, I had no problem, but if he was looking to get a rise out of his classmates and teachers, he should rethink it. 

Middle Grade Monday: Dinged by Tommy Greenwald

Image: Abrams Books

Dinged by Tommy Greenwald. 288 p. A Game Changer companion novel. Amulet Books/ Abrams, September, 2022. 9781419755156. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publisher.)

Happy Monday! It is a wet and dreary Monday here in northern NJ. The pups were miserable plodding through the dark and the rain to do their business, but they sure do love to be towed-dried at the end. 

Middle Grade Monday features Dinged by Tommy Greenwald. Freshman Caleb Springer has it made. He not only made the varsity football team, but is its quarterback. His whole life has been all football all the time, and he's a rare natural talent that is expected to go all the way to the pros as his father did. Only his dad is showing some disturbing signs - forgetfulness and explosive anger, and Caleb is concerned after having his bell rung twice during the season.

This first-person novel is interspersed with text messages and color commentary by a bantering duo of high school sports journalists. Caleb is instantly appealing as he thoughtfully leads a team of boys that are older and bigger than he. The football action is crisp. The romance between Caleb and Nina is sweet. The ever-present danger of traumatic brain injury and the effects of repeated head injury are ominous, and will hopefully cause readers to reflect. They will root for Caleb as he ponders his path.

Dinged should have wide appeal among middle school readers, not just fans of sports novels. Mr. Greenwald's writing is consistently crisp. His plots move briskly, but also contain depth and his characters are engaging and relatable. And, that cover sure is arresting! Back matter includes an author's note and a list of resources about traumatic brain injury. Highly recommended!

#tbt: Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach

Image: Sourcebooks

Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach. Felton Reinstein Trilogy #1. 311 p. Sourcebooks Fire/ Sourcebooks, June, 2011. (Own)

Happy Thursday! Did you enjoy the break in the heat that we had here in northern NJ yesterday? I was able to take Boo for a nice long walk, which was nice because I hadn't been getting my steps in because of the heat.  

#tbt features Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach. This book introduces Felton Reinstein, a sixteen-year-old with one friend and no interest in sports until puberty suddenly hits and he has grown incredibly tall and become "stupid fast." Now the football coach is inviting him to train with the team and the track coach wants him to run. Oh, and a beautiful girl moved in next store for the summer. Before you think things are looking up for Felton, I need to mention that his family has some pretty heavy baggage.

Felton's voice in this first-person narrative is at once utterly endearing and infuriating. He's so guileless, so naive, that I wanted to protect him and yell, "Wake up!" at once. If you're a mature teen reader who enjoys sad books with a side of hilarious, you will enjoy the entire Felton Reinstein Trilogy.

Stupid Fast was published in 2011. It was named to the YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults list and won a Cybils Award for YA Fiction as well as some state awards. Nothing Special was published in 2012, and I'm with Stupid was published in 2013.  Happy reading!

Teen Tuesday and Audio Review: Kneel by Candace Buford

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

Kneel by Candace Buford. Unabridged e-audiobook. ~8.3 hours. Read by Preston Butler III. HarperAudio/ Inkyard/ HarperCollins Publishers, September, 2021. 9781488211805. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library.)

Happy rainy Tuesday! There has been a flash flood warning in my area since last night and it has been raining steadily. Hopefully, the winds will stay calm and my hundred year old American Beech tree will remain standing.

Teen Tuesday features Kneel by Candace Buford. Rus Boudreaux and his best friend, Marion LaSalle are co-captains of their football team entering their senior year with high hopes for a winning season, another chance at the state championship and a football scholarship to a D-1 college. A scholarship is their only way out of their racially segregated parish in Louisiana. At the start of their second game of the season, against the team's rival, one of the white co-captains hurls a racial slur after the coin toss and the other sucker punches Marion. The refs turn a blind eye to the slur and don't defend Marion as he is hauled off the field in handcuffs and eventually beaten by police for "resisting arrest." Rus knows that Marion's chances for a scholarship are nonexistent if he can't play football, so he takes a knee during the national anthem at the next game, earning himself the ire of his coach, his teammates, his parents and the press as the media choose to portray him and Marion as thugs.

Rus' first-person narrative is compelling from the start as this thoughtful athlete tries to play by rules that seem to change at the whim of the privileged. Kneel is the author's debut and it's an impressive one peopled with complex characters dealing with real issues of poverty, racism and broken dreams.

New-to-me narrator Preston Butler III turned in a well-paced, emotionally resonant performance as Rus. 

Middle Grade Monday: Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson

Image: Penguin Random House

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson. 268 p. Nancy Paulsen Books/ Penguin Random House, September, 2020. 9780399545436. (Review of purchased copy.)

Happy Monday TMS readers! I hope you had a fantastic weekend. Running a bit late with posts again. I'm sorry. Middle Grade Monday features Before the Ever After written by Jacqueline Woodson. This is Ms. Woodson's latest novel for middle grade and it's a verse novel, meaning the story is told in a series of mostly blank verse poems by our main character ZJ. 

Twelve-year-old Zacharaiah was named after his dad, who is a football star. ZJ gets attention wherever he goes mostly because of his dad, but he has a tight crew of friends who like him for himself. The story takes place in the early 1980s before the effects of multiple concussions was widely known. ZJ's dad has had many concussions and now he's changed. Sometimes his memory is off and it hurts ZJ when his own dad doesn't know who he is. Sometimes it's scary, like the times his dad goes into violent rages and the police need to be called. The scariest part is that the doctors don't know what's happening with his dad or whether he will be fixed. 

Woodson's poems evoke the myriad of emotions ZJ experiences in this brief, heartfelt novel in verse. If you're a fan of verse novels, then read this book. If you're a fan of football, you must read this book.

Teen Tuesday and Arc Review: Cracking the Bell by Geoff Herbach

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

Cracking the Bell by Geoff Herbach. 256 p. HarperCollins Publishers, September, 2019. 9780062453149. (Review of arc)

I try to have a system to manage my arcs and book purchases. Sometimes books get buried in my tbr pile. I was rearranging piles late this summer and uncovered this one. I immediately felt guilty because I adore this author's books and here it had been out nearly a year! My apologies.

Teen Tuesday features Cracking the Bell by Geoff Herbach. Isaiah lives for football. Getting into football literally saved his life. He loves everything about it - the feeling of being part of a team, the strategy, the adrenaline, the action and, the hitting, especially. But after getting his bell rung in a crucial game, Isaiah can barely stand without feeling dizzy and can't hide the severity of his injury from his mother. His doctor tells her that he should stop playing for his own safety. Isaiah can't do that.

This complicated story is compelling from the very first page. Isaiah has a difficult back-story that readers slowly learn over the course of the book. Isaiah is a sympathetic character with understandable anger issues, making poor life choices before finding himself in football. There are no easy answers here and readers will root for him as he tries to find his way. Highly recommended. 

Teen Tuesday: Pop by Gordon Korman

Pop by Gordon Korman. 272 p. Balzar + Bray/ HarperCollins Publisher, August, 2009. 9780061742286. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Teen Tuesday features Pop by Gordon Korman. Marcus moves to a new town in the middle of the summer. He's a quarterback who intends to try out for his school's team come fall so he practices solo in the park each day to stay sharp. One day, this older guy named Charlie asks to toss the football around with Marcus. Turns out the guy is not only good, but legendary. He's also the father of the current QB of the team, a kid with no interest in having Marcus on the team. Pranks, secrets, football and humor are served up in typical Korman style. This one has a side of sad, though.

Korman occasionally leaves his middle grade wheelhouse to write YA. Pop was published in 2009 as the cumulative effects of traumatic brain injury among football players was becoming recognized. 

Teen Tuesday: Hit Count by Chris Lynch

Hit Count by Chris Lynch. 368 p. Algonquin Young Readers, May, 2015. 9781616202507. (Own)

The reader meets Arlo Brodie as an eager, articulate freshman who is eager to please his football-fanatic father and measure up to his brother, who is a senior and on the varsity team. His mother is less than pleased and none of the Brodie men pay attention to her "file" about football, hit counts and traumatic brain injury. 

Arlo's star is rising and his brother's is falling. As this happens readers begin to notice changes in Arlo. The reader likes Arlo and roots for him but at some point realizes that the articulate, kind student-athlete is disappearing and there's nothing we can do about it. We just hope some adult in Arlo's life notices. It's complicated though. Self-interest abounds. 

Lynch effectively conveys the thrill of playing football with the clear and always present danger of permanent injury in an engaging, nuanced story. 

Teen Tuesday: Pop by Gordon Korman

Pop by Gordon Korman. 263 p. HarperColling Publishers, August, 2009. 9780061742286. (Own)

Marcus Jordan is a quarterback. He has moved to a new town and hopes to join the football team as a quarterback. He spends some time at the park hoping to meet some football players. Instead, he meets Charlie. Charlie is middle-aged and a bit of an oddball but boy, does he know football and the two strike up a friendship. Once school starts, Marcus finds that he isn't being welcomed with open arms, especially by the reigning QB, who happens to be Charlie's son. This fast-paced novel has great football action, humor and some sadness. It happens to be one of my favorite Korman titles. 

Middle Grade Monday and Arc Review: Game Changer by Tommy Greenwald

Game Changer by Tommy Greenwald. 292 p. Amulet Books/ Abrams, September 11, 2018. 9781419731433. (Review from arc courtesy of publisher.)

Thirteen-year-old Teddy lives for football. Now he may be dying for it. He collapsed as he left the field after a brutally hot day at pre-season football conditioning camp with the high school team. Doctors frantically try to stabilize Teddy. Divorced parents are freaking out and unsuccessfully avoiding the blame game. Authorities try to piece together the events. All this happens as he lies in a coma in the ICU. This multiple viewpoint novel is told in dialogue, text messages, a website message board, transcripts of interviews and Teddy's own inner monologue. 

This is a quick and compelling read regardless of where you might stand as a fan or non-fan of football. Greenwald does a spectacular job of creating confusion and anxiety with the rapid shifts in POV as well as the shifting formats. It all works well to keep the reader unbalanced and scrambling to make sense. The fractured "sentences" and almost stream-of-consciousness "dialogue" of parents, relatives and friends felt very realistic. It isn't easy talking to someone who's in a coma, especially when you're reeling from the fact that a loved one is grievously injured. 

My only quibble (as an adult with a nursing background) is with the medical team who let this circus unfold at Teddy's bedside in the ICU. This is dramatic license; there wouldn't be much of a book without it and your readers won't notice this at all. I think my students will be all over this one. Hand this to almost any reader, not just football fans or "reluctant" readers. Between the fabulous cover and the unique format, Game Changer should have broad appeal and is a fabulous addition to any library.

Waiting on Wednesday: Game Changer by Tommy Greenwald

Game Changer by Tommy Greenwald. 304 p. Amulet Books/ Abrams, September 11, 2018. 9781419731433. 

Publisher synopsis: Thirteen-year-old Teddy Youngblood is in a coma fighting for his life after an unspecified football injury at training camp. His family and friends flock to his bedside to support his recovery—and to discuss the events leading up to the tragic accident. Was this an inevitable result of playing a violent sport, or was something more sinister happening on the field that day? Told in an innovative, multimedia format combining dialogue, texts, newspaper articles, transcripts, an online forum, and Teddy’s inner thoughts, Game Changer explores the joyous thrills and terrifying risks of America’s most popular sport.

I am a huge fan of the author's Charlie Joe Jackson books as well as his Crimebiter's  books. He shared news of this in February on his FB page. I really love the cover.

Hit Count by Chris Lynch

Hit Count by Chris Lynch. 368 p. Algonquin Young Readers, May 19, 2015. 9781616202507. (arc received at the ALAN workshop)

Hit Count is the first-person narrative of Arlo Brodie told over his four years in high school. We first meet Arlo as an articulate, hopeful freshman living in the shadow of his rather brutal older brother, who is a football star and sadistically enjoys putting Arlo in his place. Arlo recognizes that his brother probably received one too many hits over the course of his illustrious playing career but refuses to put the brakes on his own football hopes and dreams. He knows his father is proud of him and his mother is disappointed. She collects data about traumatic brain injury, which she adds to "The Book" and she wishes her boys would quit football. He can't please both. Besides, he loves football and recognizes his own potential.

He soon realizes that potential thanks to the hard work and extra effort he's willing to devote. Once he experiences the adrenaline rush of the "perfect hit," his appetite is insatiable. His star rises meteorically, in fact. By sophomore year, he's a varsity starter known as "Starlo." 

I could not put this book down. I have a bit of a love/ hate relationship with football. I grew up with a father who was a rabid NY Giants fan. Since my family owned only one black and white television, Sundays were spent with my dad alternately explaining the intricacies and beauty of football to me and screaming obscenities at the tv when a play went wrong. Later, it killed me in high school to see the football jocks rule the school. Still later, as an ER nurse, I was well acquainted with treatment of high school athletes. When the push for peewee football descended on my town while my own sons were growing up, I was happy they were soccer players (although I later read about the incidence of traumatic brain injury in soccer players is also high, like second or third with ice hockey. And soccer players wear no helmets).

While there's plenty of football action to please those who crave that in their novel reading, there's much more to offer a variety of readers. Arlo's is an engaging, charming voice - the likable jock, the scholar-athlete. He's crushing on new girl Sandy and is so endearingly awkward, it hurts. Even his complicated family dynamics are interesting. We definitely root for Arlo and almost don't notice that he's becoming a bit less articulate and less in control of his anger until it's too late. The bone-crunching football Arlo plays is thrilling. We get it. 

A couple of years ago, Carla Killough McClafferty wrote a powerful book called, Fourth Down and Inches: concussions and football's make or break moment. You can read my thoughts here, but I wrote that, "This book should be mandatory reading for every coach, parent and, yes, even player in the country." I think this book is so important it is usually front and center on my book display. 

The two would make a perfect fiction/ non-fiction pairing. In fact, I might take to our morning broadcast show with a book talk on both books next week to follow up on a presentation that the eighth graders at my school attended the morning of this writing (April17).

A former student who is now a senior, studied athletic injuries, specifically, ACL tears and concussion, for her Gold Star (Girl Scout) project. She put together an informative presentation and spoke very comfortably to the eighth graders. I learned that our regional high school has a policy that prohibits play (for the rest of high school) by a student when he or she suffers the fourth concussion. Whether this policy would lead to student athletes underreporting is a topic for another time but I was impressed that such a policy was in place. Timely coincidence, eh?

Hit Count is a must-purchase for school and public libraries. The only other YA novel I can think of that deals with this issue is Pop by Gordon Korman. In Pop, a young football player befriends Pop, a football legend who is suffering from the effects of multiple concussions. Hit Count definitely hits closer to home. Don't miss it.

ETA: I don't know if there are any plans to produce an audiobook. I think it lends itself to the format quite nicely. Both Nick Podehl and MacLeod Andrews spring to mind as perfect for the part. Both are terrific, especially conveying male adolescents. Both inhabit whatever book they narrate. Indeed, they don't narrate. They perform.

Non-Fiction Monday: Fourth Down and Inches: Concussions and Football's Make-or-Break Moment

by Carla Killough McClafferty. 96 p. Lerner Publishing Group, September, 2013. 9781467710671. (Purchased.)

Readers who pick up this attractive, oversize volume with the suspenseful title may be getting more than they bargained for unless they read the subtitle carefully. This book should be mandatory reading for every coach, parent and, yes, even player in the country. 

Even the casual observer of football probably has a passing understanding of its history of brutality, macho, no pain/ no gain mentality and perhaps, even deaths at all levels of play. Author McClafferty traces the history of brain injury in American football back to the late 1800s when the death of a University of Georgia student began a movement to ban football through the present. At one point in the early 1900s, Teddy Roosevelt had to meet with the Presidents of Harvard and Yale to discuss whether it should continue to be played. The sport was valued for its brutality but efforts were made to improve the safety of the players with new rules and equipment.

Unfortunately, even the best helmet cannot protect the brain, as the author clearly and understandably explains the physics of a brain injury. The narrative is readable, compelling, and a bit scary. As the parent of four boys, I was happy that they gravitated towards soccer instead of football. But soccer players are not immune to repetitive head trauma, especially if they play at an elite level. They are expected to head the ball. Often. And the only protective gear they wear are shin guards! Last year, a student at my school was put on total brain rest when she crashed head-first into a goal post and was knocked unconscious during a club soccer game. She was a fantastic student, reader as well as athlete and it took quite awhile before she was able to read without headache and with any concentration at all. 


Photographs are plentiful, informative and well-captioned. They include photos of players, MRI images and even pathology slides of the brains of dead football players. The research is meticulous and chapter notes are provided in addition to suggestions for further reading. This is a must-purchase addition to any school and public library. Display it prominently. It will not sit. 
Visit the author's website here.

Other blog reviews:
Ms. Yingling Reads
My Head is Full of Books
NSTA (National Science Teachers Association)

Non-Fiction Monday is hosted by Wrapped in Foil this week.