Review by Booklist Review
Fair play is the theme of this uncomplicated sports novel. Eighth-grader Nate is shocked to see his soccer-playing aunt deliberately pass up a chance at an easy score after her defender goes down with an injury, and he is bemused by her claim that there's a right way to win and a wrong way. Nate's own amateur team is in a close contest for a league championship, and when he emulates his aunt in a similar situation and the match ends in a tie, he gets considerable heat from his teammates. But he also sees others following his example both on and off the pitch, and though he finds himself on the losing side in the final game, he comes away understanding that the final score is secondary to the certainty that he and his mates played their best in more ways than one. Bowen tucks in plenty of soccer action plus a chocolate chip cookie recipe and closes with some real-life sports incidents that exemplify the principle he wants to highlight.--Peters, John Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Horn Book Review
Nate Osborne is on a competitive U-14 soccer team training hard to avenge their U-13 championship loss. While Nate's aunt, a former Division I player, helps with his goal-scoring, she also teaches Nate the value of winning the right way, a lesson not easily accepted by his team. The approachable, if preachy, sports novel includes an appendix with real-life stories of sportsmanship. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
