Force Out - Hardcover

Green, Tim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062089595 ISBN 13: 9780062089595

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2013

Synopsis

"I recommend this book for reluctant readers who are interested in sports. It's an accurate portrayal of a friendship conflicted by competition." - Seira Wilson, Amazon Editor

In New York Times bestselling author Tim Green’s baseball novel, when two friends compete, one of them will be forced out. In this tense, action-packed story that takes an increasingly common dilemma in competitive sports to new heights, former NFL defensive end Tim Green perfectly captures the kids who will push themselves to the limit to compete—even if it means putting everything on the line.

Joey and Zach have always been best friends. They’re also two of the best baseball players in their league, and shoo-ins for the all-star team at the end of the season. Their dream is to play together on the Center State select team, and they will do anything to help each other get there.

So when Zach is forced to go on an extra-credit field trip that would make him miss the championship game and his chances to move on, Joey comes up with a risky plan to bail him out. Everything should be fine—as long as no one finds out what they did. Then the unthinkable happens: The boys learn there’s only one open spot on the select team. Suddenly Joey and Zach go from being best friends to biggest rivals, and Joey has to decide his next move. He can play the biggest game of his life, or he can use their secret to force Zach out. How far should Joey go to win?

About this title

About the Author

Tim Green, for many years a star defensive end with the Atlanta Falcons, is a man of many talents. He's the author of such gripping books for adults as the New York Times bestselling The Dark Side of the Game and American Outrage. Tim graduated covaledictorian from Syracuse University and was a first-round draft pick. He later earned his law degree with honors, and he has also worked as an NFL commentator for FOX Sports and NPR.

His first book for young readers, Football Genius, inspired in part by his players and his own kids, became a New York Times bestseller and was followed by Football Hero, Football Champ, The Big Time, and Deep Zone. He drew on his experiences playing and coaching Little League for Rivals and Pinch Hit and two more New York Times bestsellers: Baseball Great and Best of the Best.

Bestselling author Jon Scieszka called Tim Green's Unstoppable, a book about a boy's struggle with cancer that debuted at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list, "Absolutely heroic. And something every guy should read.”

Tim Green lives with his wife, Illyssa, and their five children in upstate New York.

From the Back Cover

When two friends compete, one of them will be forced out.

Joey and Zach have always been best friends. They're also two of the best baseball players in their league, and shoo-ins for the all-star team at the end of the season. Their dream is to play together on the Center State select team, and they will do anything to help each other get there.

So when Zach is forced to go on an extra-credit field trip that would make him miss the championship game and his chances to move on, Joey comes up with a risky plan to bail him out. Everything should be fine—as long as no one finds out what they did.

Then the unthinkable happens: The boys learn there's only one open spot on the select team. Suddenly Joey and Zach go from being best friends to biggest rivals, and Joey has to decide his next move. He can play the biggest game of his life, or he can use their secret to force Zach out. How far should Joey go to win?

In this tense, action-packed story that takes an increasingly common dilemma in competitive sports to new heights, former NFL defensive end Tim Green perfectly captures the kids who will push themselves to the limit to compete—even if it means putting everything on the line.

Reviews

Gr 4-6-Sixth-graders Joey and Zach share a dream: after the Little League championships, they'll get chosen for the all-stars and, from there, the Center State Select team. The friends are so focused on their goal that Joey comes up with the idea of tampering with their teacher's pickup truck to prevent Mr. Kratz from taking the class on an extra-credit field trip that would keep Zach from participating in the championship game. That action haunts Joey for much of the story, especially since his mom is a sheriff's deputy with an uncanny ability to sniff out the truth. Exhausted and riddled with guilt and worry, he flubs the championship, and, ironically, only Zach is chosen for the all-stars. Joey gets a second chance when one of the players has to back out. Even though his mom is unrelenting in her investigation, Joey begins to believe Zach's prediction that things are going to work out. They are floored when Coach tells them that there is only one open infielder spot on the team. Suddenly, the dynamics of their friendship change, and that change is magnified when Joey discovers that the girl he likes has cast him aside for Zach. The choices that Joey ultimately makes, the realistic portrayal of friendship lost and later restored, and the abundant baseball action guarantee that this book will find wide appeal among Green's many fans.-Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VAα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Green stirs together guilt, baseball, and sharp competition between friends in his latest sports novel. To get a field trip canceled in order togive his buddy Zach a chance to try out with him for a Little League all-star team, Joey vandalizes a teacher’s car. He’s then faced with the double struggle of having to play like a star against increasingly talented opponents and keeping his secret from his mother—a smart, relentless police officer. Featuring plenty of on-field action, the tale rises on twin tides of physical and psychological suspense to a climax in which Joey and Zach find themselves competing for a single spot on a select team. The author makes one misstep by inserting a pretty, thoroughly objectified classmate solely to serve as a bone of contention between the two sixth-graders, and another by having Joey’s mother reveal she’s been testing him, waiting to see if he’d admit guilt on his own (questionable behavior for a parent). Otherwise, this is an engrossing, tightly knit tale cast in short chapters and simple language that make it suitable for reluctant readers. Grades 4-6. --John Peters

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0062089595
• ISBN 13: 9780062089595
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288