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Lynn: Marcus Jordan, star quarterback of his previous team, is the new guy in town. To make things worse, the local football team was undefeated last year and no one sees any reason to change the starting line-up. Marcus makes the team but resigns himself to working hard and riding the bench for the year. The one bright spot is a curious connection with a middle-aged man, an amazing athlete Marcus meets in the park. Charlie turns out to be a legendary pro football player and he helps Marcus improve his game and learn to love the “pop.” But there is something extremely odd about Charlie.

Korman takes what could have been a formulaic story and turns it upside down with Pop (Harper/Balzer + Bray 2009.) The beautiful cheerleader is a master football strategist, the rival quarterback is hiding a horrifying worry and the game Marcus loves so much carries a huge price. The eye-catching cover and terrific sports scenes will draw in lots of male sports fans but this is a book that has something for everyone. The nuanced relationships are what drive the story and the characters are heart-wrenchingly real. Even the secondary characters have depth and interest and the central issue of the book will make every reader pause. This football story drives straight to the heart.

Cindy: I’m not much of a football follower, but I am a fan of Korman’s writing. He’s one of the best humorists writing for teens today, but this novel is a departure into more serious issues. Without giving away any plot spoilers, it is heartening to see a football story that deals with a health issue that is not related to performance enhancing drugs. Besides the football action, teen boys are going to enjoy the pranks that the odd couple play on the crabby business man near the park where they practice. Still, one of my favorite elements in YA lit is when the teens are faced with choices of right and wrong presented in a very gray situation. Is it okay to do something illegal if the act is one that is extremely important? Marcus is faced with that choice several times in this novel as he struggles to befriend a man who no one really understands anymore. The background noise of televised college football games accompanied my reading of this novel today and I was left wishing that Indiana University had a defensive line as good as the one Marcus played on. “Pop” could teach my Hoosiers a thing or two.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 4:38 pm and is filed under Fiction, Gr. 7-10, Intergenerational Stories, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.