Cracking the Bell

July 1, 2019
A troubled Wisconsin teenager finds solid ground and grievous injury alike on the gridiron. If a whole family could be said to suffer from PTSD it would be Isaiah's, devastated by sudden, violent deaths. Bad friends and behavior have seemingly locked him in a downward spiral--until his parents offer a choice of football or a group home. In football, Isaiah not only finds salutary physical and mental challenges, but a perfect outlet for the destructive tendencies driven by his rage and grief. When the latest in a series of concussions leaves him struggling to cover up some scary symptoms, though, an agonizing dilemma presents itself: to walk away from both commitments to teammates and the source of his prized, hard-won stability or to stay on and risk permanent damage? By surrounding Isaiah with a supporting cast that, from ineffectual parents to clueless coaches and an alcoholic former girlfriend, seems notably weak on "support" potential, Herbach (Hooper, 2018, etc.) gives his conflicted narrator agency to make his own decision...but also sets up a climactic round of revelations and confessions that reveal those individuals to be less feeble than he supposed. Along with tackling the deadly hazards of concussions, this novel offers a bulletin to readers facing life-altering changes, telling them that they might not have to go through them alone. A lack of physical descriptions points to a white default. Backmatter not seen. Provocative entry centered on a sizzling topic. (Sports fiction. 15-18)

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September 1, 2019
Grades 8-11 Isaiah knows football saved him. Shattered by deaths in his family, the troubled middle-schooler had run-ins with the law and was headed for more conflict when his dad steered him to freshman football. Fast-forward a few years and he's team captain and a local star with a potential prestigious college scholarship in his future. Hits on the field have taken their toll, though?as Isaiah puts it, he's cracked his bell. He knows successive head injuries can lead to serious brain dysfunction and that he needs to quit the sport he loves to stay healthy. But can he really walk away from the thing that fills his life with exhilaration? Might that mean reverting to aimlessness and more trouble? Herbach's story explodes on the page with Isaiah's searching self-reflection. Football fans will love the grace and elegance with which the game is described, yet technical detail never overwhelms the story about a wily, articulate teen desperately trying to envision a future for himself by building a new game plan.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)