Review by Booklist Review
This thought-provoking look at race, high-profile sports, and private schools stars Jason and Tom, best friends and football teammates since they were young. After thriving at a football recruitment camp, both are excited to attend an expensive private school to enhance their sports abilities. When they find out their football coach assigned their positions based on racist views, instead of quitting, the boys decide to figure out how to change the system. Unfortunately, the private school they chose isn't only steeped in institutionalized racism in its sports practices it also has religious bullying, segregation, and a no-interracial-dancing policy. Feinstein does a thorough job of pursuing journalistic avenues teens might have at their disposal to create social outrage. At some points of the story, the boys' behavior seems too idealistic, as they show a range of emotional maturity and fortitude in the face of racism, with no psychologically traumatic impact. Still, an intriguing look at racism in contemporary sports and the power private schools have in shaping sports and upholding racist traditions.--Bratt, Jessica Anne Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Horn Book Review
Childhood friends and star football players, Jason, who's Jewish, and Tom, African American, are freshmen at an elite Virginia boarding school. They're shocked by racial biases they encounter, and they set out to expose the ugly truths behind the school's practices. The protagonists are idealistic yet inured to the difficulties they face in this sports story with a thought-provoking look at how schools can propagate prejudice. (c) Copyright 2018. 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.
