Booktalk: Swim the Fly (Virginia Readers' Choice, 2012-2013)

 

High schooler Matt Gratton is a decent swimmer, but not when it comes to the butterfly stroke, possibly the hardest stroke out there to master. He himself admits that he looks like “a palsied whippet struggling for its life”(41) when he swims it. But Matt would do anything for a hot girl, especially a hot girl named Kelly. She’s impressed that he volunteered to swim the 100-yard butterfly (the fly) in a major meet. Matt and his friends, Sean and Coop, would do a lot to impress girls. Their major goal for the summer is to see a naked girl: a live one. They even hide in a closet at a party, but it backfires majorly, although they might have prevented a pregnancy, who knows. Intelligent strategy is not their strong point. Matt’s buddy Sean even intentionally pigged out on junk food just so he could barf in the pool, on purpose. Actually, that did get Matt out of swimming the fly, so it wasn’t totally stupid. How much of a fool is Matt going to be at the final meet? And will the girl of his dreams ever see anything in him at all? Swim the Fly by Don Calame.

Swim the Fly by Don Calame. 345 p. Candlewick Press, 2009. Virginia Readers' Choice (High School) for 2012-2013. Contains mature references.

Swim the Fly

Booktalk: Pop by Gordon Korman (Virginia Readers' Choice)

Marcus Jordan, high school football player, has a new football practice friend named Charlie. Here are five facts about Charlie.
1). Charlie appears to be an expert football player.
2). Even though he's in his 50s.
3). Charlie likes playing pranks on people: well, mostly one person
4). Charlie's son is the quarterback on Marcus' team
5). Charlie's family is extremely protective of him. Now, Charlie is a useful friend to have if you want to get really, really tough at tackling, being tackled, blocking, catching hard passes, and generally being a tough, indestructible football machine. But in other ways, Charlie is sort of like a kid: an innocent, forgetful one. What fact about Charlie is Marcus failing to see? Pop by Gordon Korman.

Pop by Gordon Korman. 260 p. Balzer and Bray, 2009. Booktalk to middle school, high school. Virginia Readers' Choice for middle school, 2011-2012.

Contests: Booktalk 3

Some contests go on for a while, and others take just a few seconds. That’s the case with 8^th grader Nate Brodie’s contest: he has to throw a pass through a target during halftime at the New England Patriots’ Thanksgiving Night Game. The prize - if he throws well? One million dollars. There’s good news and bad news. First, the good news. Nate is really, really good at football. He’s the quarterback on his home team, and he’s talented and passionate about football. The bad news? It has two parts: part one – Nate’s under tremendous pressure, because his dad lost his job, his family is broke, and they could lose their home as a result. Bad news part two – for some athletes, the more stress they’re under, the more likely they are to choke. Nate can’t afford to choke. This million-dollar throw is no fun-and-games contest for Nate's family.

Million-Dollar Throw by Mike Lupica. Puffin, 2010 reprint. 272 p. Booktalk to intermediate grades, middle school.