Review: The Underdogs by Mike Lupica

Book: The Underdogs by Mike Lupica
Pages: 288 Pages
Publisher: Philomel
Release Date: September 20th, 2011
Source: Wunderkind PR

Synopsis:
Will Tyler can fly on a football field. He may not be the biggest running back around, but no one can touch him when it comes to hitting the hole and finding the end zone. And no one can match his love of the game. When Will has a football in hand, he may as well be flying for real because life can't touch him - his dad isn't so defeated, his town isn't so poor, and everyone has something to cheer for. All of which does him no good if the football season is canceled. With no funding for things like uniforms and a cared-for playing field, with seemingly every other family moving to find jobs, there simply isn't enough money or players for a season. Unless one kid can rally an entire town and give everyone a reason to believe . . .

My Thoughts:

I really didn’t know what to expect with this book. I’m not a big football fan, but I remember reading one of Mike Lupica’s books and it was really good. I guess I really liked it.

Lupica’s writing has something in it that makes you feel like you’re in the book and you’re playing the sport. I really liked all the details about football moves, it made all the game scenes seem even more realistic.

There was a girl who played on the football team in this book (Hannah). Hannah was really empowering because she showed that a girl could play football just as well as a guy. However, I don’t think that the sexism that went with it seemed real. My friend’s sister played on the high school football team before she injured her knee and she was accepted right into the sport.

Reading this made me appreciate football more. I’m a sport player myself (basketball and volleyball) and if I couldn’t have been on my team last year I don’t know what I would’ve have done. Mike Lupica is an excellent writer and you should read this book even if you don’t like sports.