Review of "Quarterback Season," by Fred Bowen

Review of

Quarterback Season, by Fred Bowen ISBN 9781561455942


Four out of five stars

 Matt is going into the upcoming middle school football season fully expecting to be the starting quarterback. He is in the eighth and last grade in the school, so this is his last chance. He is a very talented quarterback, but lacks the skills needed to excel at other positions.

 Devro is a seventh grader and an extremely fast and shifty runner, it only takes a few practices before it is clear to all that he is the superior athlete. This raises concerns in Matt about Devro taking over his position, even though when Devro plays quarterback he clearly lacks the precision in his passing to play the position full time.

 The main theme of this book is managing the fears of a member of the starting unit that they will be replaced in the lineup. It is a common problem and creates the conflict of personal desires versus the success of the team. Since this is an issue that is universal in competitive sports, there is an important lesson here.

 The common formula for adolescent sports fiction is to experience adversity, make it to the big game at the end and then dramatically win it. That is not the case in the Fred Bowen series, and he is to be commended for that trait. After all, in a 26 team league with a championship game at the end, only one team can win their last game. As the legendary football coach Paul Brown said, "You can learn a line from a win and a book from a defeat."