Customer Reviews

Halfback Tough (Puffin story books)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book Halfback Tough by Thomas Dygard is a great, exciting book! It is about a kid named Joe Atkins who was the tough kid in his old school and used to smoke and drink with his old friends Marty, and Richard. But when he moves about an hour away from Worthington he feels all left out, so he signs up for the football team at Graham High School. He meets four new people. Paul King who is the quarterback, and is always against Joe because he caught him smoking before tryouts. Jason Mcneal the flanker that Joe plays over. Andy Walker the tailback who becomes Joe's best friend. Earl Steel the coach. Joe becomes the star player on his football team and everyone in Graham knows who he is and loves him. He starts to become nice and actually try to look clean, and now he even tries to be good at school. Then the week comes when he has to go back to Worthington to play his old enemies, and face his old friends, Marty and Richard who always yell at the jocks who they call "snoots". At the game his old friends gave him a hard time, but were thrown out of the game after the policeman caught them. After the game his friends invited him to go out, but he wasn't allowed to go anywhere besides on the bus with the team according to team rules. Then one night after in a game, Marty and Richard met up with Joe and they went out for burgers at a place like they used to hang out. After they ate, Richard and Marty wanted to go somewhere to do stuff, but Joe walked home. At school on Monday everyone realized that someone broke into and vandalized the school. Everyone questioned Joe, but they found out it was really Marty and Richard. At the end Joe became friends with everyone that hated him.

You have to read Halfback Tough if you like those were the best parts of the book.
The characters in this book were Joe Atkins he was the main character, and his old friends Marty and Richard. There were the quarterback, Paul King; second string flanker, Jason McNeal; Andy Walker, the tailback; and Earl Steel, the coach. The story is about a kid who moved from Worthington High to Graham High and eventually decided to play football. When Joe was in Worthington he was a trouble who smoked, He went to football games and called the player's jocks and heroes. After moving to Graham he became a football star. Joe has second thoughts in the middle of the season. Paul King Spreads a rumor that before Joe joined the football team he saw him smoking a cigarette in the bleachers. Paul called Joe a troublemaker and said he wasn't reliable. He gets a lot of stress because he doesn't think hi teammates will like. Joe starts thinking that he can't be depended on. Personally my most preferred chapter was chapter 3 because, Joe had his first scrimmage. He did so good Coach Steele told him to stay out on the field with the starting offense. I liked this book because of the football things like games are described in detail.

DJ Wright
5/13/05


Halfback Tough by Thomas J. Dygard is a must read action packed novel! If you want to read a very exciting and interesting novel, this is the one.
Some important characters in this novel are Joe Atkins the main character; Marty, and Richard. His old buddies, from his old school. Paul King, the starting quarterback, Andy Walker, Joes only real friend, and Coach Earl Steal. The story takes place at a school in Graham county. It's told in first person multiple character. The mood of this book is anger and happiness.
This story plot is very interesting. Back in Worthington, Joe Atkins was a big trouble maker. Now in Graham he is a big shot football player, and also a good student. Joe is under a lot of pressure because his teammates doesn't really like him, because of a rumor spread by Paul King. He told everyone that before Joe got on the team, he saw him smoking a cigarette and that he is a trouble maker and he is not dependable. Joe becomes angry and depressed and starts to give up on his school work, but at the same time he wands to prove Paul wrong.
In conclusion, you can tell that this book is very exciting and action packed. So as you can see, you would have to be a fool not to want this book. Go out and get your copy now!.

!!!!!!!!! HALFBACK TOUGH!!!!!!!

In this book there are a couple of main charactars so I will list them all and they are Joe the halfback, Paul the Quarterback, Andey the runningback, chuck the fullback, richard one of Joes old friends, Marty another one of Joes crazy friends, Earl Steele the coach of the football team,well that's about all of them.
This book is about a boy named Joe that was a trouble maker at his old school because he hung around with the wrong people.These people where Marty and Richard who smoked and drunk and did bad things like that. Well he moved away to another school about three hours away,and one day after school he was smoking in front of the school tennis court and the quarterback named Paul told joe to put it out. Joe never thought about going out for the football team at his old school but he did for this one. He was at the first day of practice and Joe did not know but he had the talent to run fast and catch the ball better than anyone on the field. He was so good that Earl Steel replaced Jason the starting halfback with Joe so now Joe was starting. Joe had became famous for his football talent and made best friends with Andey the runningback. In his new school he made the best grades he had ever had and was the biggest star in town cause he was in the news paper and every one knew his name cause he was the football teams best weapon. His school was undefeated when they had to face Joe's old school. Joe knew that Marty and Richard where there and they saw him before he saw them and with them being drunk they started yelling his name and embarissing him. But they still won the game. Joe got back with his old friends and started drinking again with them for a while then went home. The next day they found out there school had been broken in to. they found out who it was it was a trouble maker. But every one was worride about the big game the other team was un defeated to like them. They had a hard time but they still won the game.
This is a good book for a sports fan and I recommend this book for any one who plays sports.

Dygard really hit gold when he wrote this book. If you love football, then this is the book for you. When Joe has to move to a new school, he gives up his old trouble making life and starts over. When he joins the football team, he doesn't know he's in for a wild ride. When he has to go to his old school to play his old school's team, he runs into his old friends. Will Joe be able to stay out of trouble? This book is really a "Can't put it down" kind of book. You must read this book!

Will Joe turn his act around at his new school. This book starts out slow but it goes on like this Joe the main character does not do very well in school. At his school he was known as a tough guy. He also did bad things like smoke and drink with his friends named Marty and Richard. Also he did not have a good relationship wit his parents and did better in school. I really enjoyed this book because Thomas Cygard made me feel like I was the main character in certain areas like when he did not do well in school and he turned around a did better in school just like me.

A great book about a kid whose life changes over a move to a different school. Joe Atkins was a trouble-maker at his old school. After his dad gets a new job 130 miles away from his friends and old school, Joe starts over. Joe starts off by joining the football team. Then he finds himself doing his homework and paying attention in class. On his football team he finds out ath he can catch and run better then anybody else on the team. When Joe's old friends come to visit him will he turn back into a trouble-maker again? I suggest you read this great book and find out.

This book was very exciting.It didn't start off very good,but it got better.It's about a boy named Joe. At his old school he did bad things like smoking and drinking.His friends also did bad things too. Their names were Marty and Ricard. This book is about sports,because at his new school he goes and tries out for a sport .You'll have to read it to find out what this interesting book has to offer.

I go to a High School where Football is the boy's main thing. I'm just a freshmen but I've loved Football all my life. The story is neat because I'm a Fullback. I like the action of the book during the games and the suspense from chapter to chapter.

A Review by Keith

Joe Atkins is a trouble maker and his parents have made him change schools because they want him to start over. His new school is Graham High. He decides to join the football team and is the best flanker on the team. Everyone in the school and around the town knows Joe because he is the best receiver and he came out of nowhere. Joe has to overcome many obstacles such as his old friends from Worthington High who make things pretty difficult for Joe to forget his past.

Some of the things I liked about this book were that the games were action packed. There was always something going on whether it is Joe's old friends or him ripping down the sideline for another touchdown. One of the things this book didn't have was big vocabulary. None of the words were a challenge and it wasn't very difficult to read. On the upside it was very easy to follow along with. The book seemed real but some parts weren't that believable such as how Joe scores at least two touchdowns a game. Also how there was a perfect block coming out of nowhere. For example, "He cut sharply to his right, toward the sideline, away from the mass of uniforms. The blur of an orange uniform flew into the crowd of white ones. Somebody had delivered a powerful block."

This book was good but it is more of a sixth or seventh grade reading level. The reader who might enjoy this book is the person who love action packed football.