Customer Reviews

Football Hero

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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Other reviewers have done a great job explaining the plot of "Football Hero" by Tim Green. Anyone who reads this book will enjoy the story and the satisfying "good guys win with a compromise" ending. What is just as valuable is Green's writing style for young readers and the voice he projects in this title and last year's book "Football Genius."

Green has experience writing adult thrillers and non-fiction about life in the National Football League. Young readers get to partake of his writing talents and skill with all things literary by reading his new books. The language is accessible, the chapters are comfortable and managable in length, and the action is well considered. Green turns a not so good situation for a teenaged boy who has lost his family into a winning final score by giving young Ty Lewis a conscience. His choices to do the right thing are influenced by his older brother Thane's sage like stories of advice and this brings them closer while they are healing over the loss of their parents. There are many brotherhoods featured in "Football Hero" and Green prioritizes them so that readers understand that brothers can and should be able to count on each other for anything.

Teachers, librarians, and parents looking for something to encourage boys 8-12 to read will be pleased with Green's books.

Ty Lewis' parents have died in an accident, so he has gone to live with his dad's sister, Aunt Virginia, and Uncle Gus. Ty's older brother is Thane (aka Tiger) Lewis, a hopeful NFL first-round draft pick from Syracuse University. Thane and Ty are close, but because Thane is finishing up his college degree, Ty is forced to remain with his aunt and uncle.

Living with his aunt and uncle is horrible. Ty remembers the loving home he came from, and misses his parents terribly. His relatives make him sleep on a stained mattress on the floor in the laundry room. His uncle has scavenged an old Porta Potti that he forces Ty to use instead of the indoor plumbing. And now it's his twelfth birthday. Ty doesn't expect anything exciting, and it's even worse than he thought possible. His uncle presents him with a work permit allowing Ty to work for the family cleaning business. So while Ty and his cousin, Charlotte, spend their evenings after school scrubbing toilets and floors, his uncle sits back and drinks beer and socializes.

Ty has two shining spots in his life: his brother, Thane, and the chance to play on his middle school football team. Ty is fast and has sure hands. Coach V has great plans for Ty for the upcoming season. But his Uncle Gus does everything he can to keep Ty from playing football and away from his brother.

Then, Thane gets his draft pick and is worth millions. Uncle Gus enters into illegal gambling with the mafia, and Ty and Thane are the unwitting pawns. With the intervention of the FBI, Ty may come out better or worse than he started. But you have to read the story to see how the plot twists and turns.

I admit that I have never heard of Mr. Green before reading this story. Mostly because I will be honest and say I am not a fan of football. I go out of my way to avoid any game that may be on TV. But Mr. Green's story sounded exciting and thrilling. The story moved fast and had plots outside of football to interest those beyond the sports fans. This book will easily have appeal to boys ages 10 to 100. The reader will be satisfied to see that the underdog does come out on top in the end!

Reviewed by: Jaglvr

Football Hero is a modern day story that takes place in New Jersey about a boy named Ty. Ty is 12 years old and has a brother named Thane who is a great college football player. Both of his parents died in a car accident, so he lives with his Uncle Gus. Uncle Gus is very mean to Ty and is involved in a Mafia-related gambling ring. In the beginning of this book, Thane is drafted by the New York Jets. When Uncle Gus tells this to a man named Lucy, who is also involved with the Mafia, he wants to use Ty to make money. His plan is to use Ty to get information about the players on the Jets who are injured and can't play, then sell that information to people with fantasy football teams. Ty doesn't want to lie to Thane but he is forced to, so every Friday night Thane and Ty go out to dinner which is where Ty asks him about the injured players. Eventually they get caught when the Mafia are the only people to know that Thane is injured for the Jets' game against the Bengals. People find out and so many people bet on the Bengals when the Jets are expected to win, the police know that something is wrong. Ty and Thane don't want Uncle Gus to go to jail so they talk him into cooperating with the police so he is off the hook. However, Lucy is arrested so Uncle Gus goes into the Witness Protection Program so the Mafia doesn't find him and kill him and Ty gets to live with Thane.
I thought Football Hero was exciting and fun to read. Tim Green's (the author) experience in the NFL as a linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons gives you a good idea about what it's like in the locker rooms before, during, and after the game. I liked this book and would recommend it to anyone, especially football fans.

I thought that the book was very boring. I thought it was boring, because there was no exciting events in the story. The story was to slow. I would recommend this book for kids who play, or like football. At the end of the book was the best, because that's when Ty actually plays football.

this is my favorite book in the world and in my lifetime i have read a million books. if you have a desire to read the best book ever written then for goodness sake buy this book right now.

Great book for anyone interested in football. Me and my brother enjoyed this book, it was awesome to know that he knew what a Jugs machine was. He used to play football in High School over 30 years ago so of course he new what a Jugs machine is.( I on the other hand had to get out the dictionary )

I bought this and another Tim Green book for my nephew for Christmas. As an English teacher, I always want to find new and exciting books that hold interest especially for younger kids. Since my nephew is a huge football fan, I thought that this book would be perfect.

Length:: 1:02 Mins

Ty Lewis's big brother, Thane "Tiger" Lewis, has graduated from college and has been drafted into the pro leagues by the New York Jets. That couldn't be better news for young Ty because he lives in New Jersey with a disagreeable uncle, but now he gets to see Thane every week. They have gotten even closer since their parents died six months earlier in a car accident. Now Thane is giving everything he has to his little brother. They need each other in more ways than one.

Former NFL player Tim Green brings a fresh voice of realism to this follow-up to FOOTBALL GENIUS with gritty descriptions of football plays, accurate accounts of life in the big leagues and some not-so-pretty visions of the seedy world of gambling that surrounds professional sports. Young Ty is unwittingly dragged into this negative underworld by his greedy Uncle Gus, who pressures Ty into getting inside information on the Jets. Gus, who makes Ty work nights after school in his cleaning business, gives the information to his bookie, "Lucy."

In spite of the gritty subject matter, Green writes with an authentic voice tinted with poetic nuances. Readers unfamiliar with or perhaps uninterested in the world of football will appreciate his use of language. Green employs metaphors and picturesque descriptions to keep the reader glued to the story. He is a master of tension as turning pages happens quickly; his audience craves the next scene and chapter until arriving at the appealing conclusion, where the message is brought home loud and clear: Team is everything and brothers take care of brothers, but family is of the utmost importance.

An example of Green's vivid writing is in the details and images he uses to color the reader's mind throughout the book.

"He yanked several paper towels off the roll on the wall and handed them to her. She plastered them to the long red gash across her palm and the blood bloomed like a rose in a science movie. Charlotte sucked air in through her teeth with a hissing sound that reminded Ty of filling his bicycle tires at the gas station."

Green's artful writing makes words like "plastered," "gash," "blood," "rose" and "hissing" seem as if they've always belonged in the same sentences.

For gridiron fans, FOOTBALL HERO has the whole team: practice, locker rooms, rivalries, gambling, fantasy football, injuries, games, deceit and strategy. The fantasy turns into cold, hard reality when the FBI investigates the gambling ring to which Uncle Gus is supplying information. Ty and Thane soon realize that family is important, but the brotherhood of football plays is a pretty close second.

Great book, well written, I wish it was longer, I read it in two nights.