4.5 stars. This is a thing I can imagine a young boy in Troy’s thinking up a story like this to get him thru a tough spot. It was sweet and heartfelt, and I can imagine any sports-lovin kid enjoying it. ( )

Troy, a sixth-grader with an unusual gift for predicting football plays before they occur, attempts to use his ability to help his favorite team, the Atlanta Falcons, but he must first prove himself to the coach and players.

I think it's cool that a former NFL player is able to write this well. It starts off a little slow, but once it gets going, it REALLY gets going. After [a: Mike Lupica|2607|Mike Lupica|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1260484461p2/2607.jpg], Tim Green is my favorite children's sports fiction writer.

Troy is the backup quarterback for his middle school football team. The problem is not that he isn't good, it's that he isn't the coach's son. With coach playing favorites, there's no way his team can win. His favorite NFL team, the Atlanta Falcons, isn't winning either. But Troy has a secret talent that can help them. He has the ability to predict plays. He tries to convince the Falcons defensive coach, but instead of impressing him, he gets himself banned from the field and his mom temporarily fired from her Falcons PR job. Luckily he convinces defensive lineman Seth Galloway, and together they come up with a plan to win despite the coach's apparent desire to lose.

For kids who love watching NFL football, this book is a sure win. There is enough play by play to keep diehard fans hooked. As much as anything, winning at football is about being able to predict the strategy of the opposing team. Here is a genius kid who is able to figure out in minutes what usually takes hours of analysis. Besides that, the book portrays a healthy relationship between Troy and his single mom and a girl who can kick as well as the boys. ( )

Noah (my 12-year old multi-sport athlete son) and I also liked this one. ( )

Read this for Hudson's Lit Circles group at school. It was pretty straightforward and the multiple narrative lines helped me explain subplots, but I found the main character inherently problematic on several levels. We were able to have good conversations about whether Troy being an underdog in many senses of the word gave him a free pass to lie to his mother, and others, continually, without any kind of redemption. Author gets credit for trying to go beyond stock characters for the female characters here, though he couldn't resist pointing out Tate (the female kicker)'s physical weakness multiple times in the book. The mother, unfortunately, is only redeemed by her self-sacrifice for her son and her relationship with the star football player. But the kids in the critique group really enjoyed the jargon and realistic depictions of a professional football game, and I agreed that these were the strongest parts of the book. ( )