Crackerjack Halfback [Paperback]

Matt Christopher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1996 | Grade Level: P and up

Freddie Chase is a good football player with one major flaw: He's afraid to tackle. He tries hard to cover up his fear, but soon Coach Sears and the other Sandpipers know all about it. The team is fighting to finish the season at the top of the league, but how can they hope to succeed when one of their players lets the opposition run right by him? Coach Sears has no choice but to take Freddie out of the lineup. Now it's up to Freddie to earn his way back onto the starting team. But can he overcome his fear?

Product Details

• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; 1st pbk. ed edition (November 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316137952
• ISBN-13: 978-0316137959
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.4 x 7.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #131,040 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Authors & Illustrators, A-Z > ( C ) > Christopher, Matt
  • #33 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Sports & Activities > Sports > Football
  • #65 in Books > Children's Books > Sports & Games > Sports > Football

More About the Author

Matthew F. Christopher was born on August 16, 1917, in Bath, Pa. He was the oldest of nine children and a talented athlete, playing baseball, football and soccer in high school. He became interested in writing at the age of 14 and in 1940 had his first story published in a detective magazine. He began writing children's books in the mid 1950's with the publication of THE LUCKY BASEBALL BAT (Little, Brown and Company).

Christopher became well-known for his sports fiction novels for children with over 130 titles bearing his name. He was awarded numerous writing honors from state organizations as well as the 1993 Milner Award. Besides books, he had about 275 short stories and articles published in over 65 children and adult magazines over the years. He is considered America's best selling sports book author.

Matt Christopher and his wife Cay were the parents of four children and the grandparents of ten grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. He died in 1997 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Crakerjack Halfback Review, March 20, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Crackerjack Halfback (Paperback)

The book Crackerjack Halfback by Matt Christopher is about a boy named Freddie Chase who is a football player.Freddies problem is he is scared to tackle.Freddie plays on the team called the Sandpipers and they're fighting to finish in first place.His coach named Coach Sears and his team mates are depending him.I've played football for five years and I can relate to Freddies touchdown experiences.I remember my coach yelling at me like Freddie's coach did to him.My practices were hard like his.

I like the book because its about football.My favorite parts were the games he played in.I would not change the ending of the book or its ending because it all work out for eveybody in the end.

I would recommend this book to another person because its about football.The type of person who would like this book is a person who likes football like me.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Crakerjack Halfback Review, March 20, 2003

By 

Leon (Hollywood, fl United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crackerjack Halfback (Paperback)

The book Crackerjack Halfback by Matt Christopher is about a boy named Freddie Chase who is a football player.Freddies problem is he is scared to tackle.Freddie plays on the team called the Sandpipers and they're fighting to finish in first place.His coach named Coach Sears and his team mates are depending him.I've played football for five years and I can relate to Freddies touchdown experiences.I remember my coach yelling at me like Freddie's coach did to him.My practices were hard like his.
I like the book because its about football.My favorite parts were the games he played in.I would not change the ending of the book or its ending because it all work out for eveybody in the end.
I would recommend this book to another person because its about football.The type of person how would like this book is a person how likes football like me.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Crackerjack Halfback, February 14, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Crackerjack Halfback (Library Binding)

Crackerjack Halfback

By: Matt Christopher

The book I read was Crackerjack Halfback. The author is Matt Christopher. A boy on the football team named Freddie Chase is having a problem. Freddie's problem is that he is afraid to tackle. Freddie knows he has to suck up his fear or he will lose his position. Now they are in a position and need to win and Freddie missed some tackles. Coach Sears knows he has to take him out of the game. Now Freddie has to try hard to gain his spot back. Wonder if he can over come that fear. I would recommend this book to kids that are worried about fears or problems they have and want to over come their problem or fear. Also kids that are truly in love with football.