At All Costs

Gr 7 Up—This hi-lo series focuses on the drama surrounding a high school football team in Troy, Ohio. In Out of the Tunnel, Brian breaks into the team's inner circle, starting as tight end and joining an elite group founded years earlier by his father. Brian plays a central role in updating a tradition, luring a vulnerable female friend to a party where she's coaxed to become drunk and strip for the boys while they snap pictures with their phones. In the end, Brian leaves the group in disgust but remains on the team and disappointingly never really comes clean. In Breakthrough, giant Efram moves from Arizona and is recruited to play for the Trojans, cheered on by his mohawk-wearing, computer-geek friend, Flick. The Option has Gary filming star quarterback Shane driving drunk in order to blackmail him and take his starting position. At All Costs is the most probing, addressing concussions and the way they can be ignored by coaches eager for victory. Curiously, football is presented throughout as a toxic and corrosive culture. Players are dishonest and cruel to one another, coaches are sadistic and unreliable, and boys perceived as weak are dismissed as "ladies." The sometimes dense game descriptions will appeal to football fans. While the stories overlap somewhat, the entries can be read independently. Frequent references to underage drinking and occasional mature (though not explicit) sexual situations make this series a solidly high school selection.—Bob Hassett, Luther Jackson Middle School, Falls Church, VA