August 10, 2015
There is a lot to enjoy in this story of a soccer team of self-declared “losers” who band together after their new principal rules that all seniors must play a sport. First, there is captain Jack Logan, who narrates with heart and humor as he is forced to choose between pleasing his father, a former athletic legend at the school, or his undermotivated teammates, who insist on playing badly in hopes of bringing awareness to the obsessive sports culture at their school. When the media learns what the team is doing, it becomes an overnight sensation, igniting a frenzy among anti-bullying groups and non-athletes. The Losers’ eccentricities make it easy to cheer for them, including a goalie who gets tangled in the net (when he’s not sleeping), a kid who pukes during every match, and a constant circus of flying shoes and colliding players. Klass (Grandmaster) creates an uproarious soccer spectacle that’s fun to imagine, but it’s the message behind this underdog team, one of acceptance and forgiveness, that will stick with readers after the Losers play their final heroic game. Ages 12–up.
August 1, 2015
When a football coach-turned-principal enforces a new policy requiring every senior to join an athletic team, a group of self-professed geeks, oddballs, and other nonathletes creates a team that challenges the high school's long-standing sports culture. Seventeen-year-old Jack Logan's father and older brothers are local football legends, but he has no interest in becoming an elite athlete. When "Becca the Brain" suggests fielding a soccer team, he is initially reluctant, but Becca's plan is more about having fun than winning. Together they manage to find enough like-minded students to fill the roster, but with a goalie who falls asleep midgame and a player who speaks only in non sequiturs, they are an eclectic bunch. Their first game is a dismal failure, earning them a dressing-down from the principal and, oddly enough, a huge Internet following. The Losers touch a nerve, driving some to raucous enthusiasm and others to violence. The depiction of jock culture at "Muscles" High is disturbingly accurate, and Jack's and Becca's familial struggles are well-played. There is a lot to like here: humor, social commentary, and what it means to be a winner. But the too-easy ending feels rushed and false. A victory, if of the minor sort. (Fiction. 12-16)
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September 1, 2015
Gr 7 Up-"This is not a typical story about the birth of a sports team dynasty..." warns 18-year-old Jack Logan. It's his senior year at Fremont High (aka Muscles High), where the jocks reign supreme. Even though he comes from a family of athletes, Jack himself has never shown much prowess on the field. So when an oppressive new principal takes over and makes it a rule that every single student must participate in a sport, Jack, along with some nonathletic friends, decides to create a third-string soccer team called The Losers, with the school's part-time Latin teacher at the helm. Tensions mount between The Losers and the jocks as their mission to dramatically lose on purpose attracts more and more attention from the student body as well as the local media. Jack then begins to wrestle with the idea that maybe avoiding victory isn't all it's cracked up to be. While this book addresses the excessive emphasis that some schools can place on athletics and the effect that has on students, it's equally one about parent/child bonds. Jack's father never got to fulfill his own professional athletic dreams, so by projecting them onto his son, he creates a strain on their relationship. Many teens will relate to the pressures that adults can sometimes unfairly place upon them. VERDICT Even readers who aren't sports fiction fans will find themselves rooting for The Losers in this refreshing take on the genre.-Kimberly Castle-Alberts, Hudson Library & Historical Society, OH
Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
September 1, 2015
Grades 7-10 Klass (Grandmaster, 2014) tackles jock culture and social-media hysteria in this smart, often hilarious novel. Jack Logan is the youngest brother in a family of talented football players, and he might actually enjoy sports if he were not constantly pressured into taking one up. When the beloved principal of sports-powerhouse Freemont Highaka Muscles High dies, he is replaced by the school's football coach, Mr. Muhldinger, whose first act as principal is to require that all seniors participate in a school sport. In response, Jack and his friends establish a third-rate soccer team to fulfill the requirement with as little effort as possible. Not surprisingly, they stink. But thanks to social media, the Losers become a touchstone for every kid who has ever suffered at the hands of jocks or maniacal PE coaches. Their insurrection unleashes levels of revolution they had not imagined. With exciting sporting sequences and subversive twists and turns, this unpredictable book turns the concept of winning on its head. A hugely entertaining score for the underdogs.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)