Review of "Kid Owner," by Tim Green

 Review of

Kid Owner, by Tim Green ISBN 9780062293794

Five out of five stars

Great sports story with unexpected ending

 Like nearly all stories about participants in sports, the end of the book describes the action in the big game at the end. However, unlike most of the others, the ending here is unexpected, although pleasing.

Ryan is a boy growing up in Texas, where football at all levels is just short of a religion. That extends up through the pros, where the dominant team is the Dallas Cowboys. Like nearly everyone else in his neighborhood, Ryan is an intense fan of the Cowboys. Ryan loves playing football and is very knowledgeable about the intricacies of the game. However, although he is very fast, he is also small and during his early years, the coaches generally keep him out of contact situations.

 That changes when he reaches middle school, and he acquires a new friend in Jackson. He is a transfer into the area and is so big that at first no one can believe that he is truly still in middle school. Jackson is also very fast and has the football temperament, so he is a natural on the playing field. Ryan also has a close female friend called Izzy she is also very knowledgeable about football. Both the history and the on-field tactics.

 When Ryan’s father dies, he suddenly inherits his absent father’s ownership stake in the Dallas Cowboys. It is quite a heady experience for a 12-year-old boy, and the attention is unnerving. His middle school football team is also in need of a spark, a quarterback that can make quick decisions when coming up to the line of scrimmage. Ryan proves to be such a player, even though many of his passes have the aspect of a wounded duck.

 The plot has two parallel tracks, Ryan’s inherited interest in the Cowboys and the subsequent legal fight as well as his desire to lead his team to a victory over powerhouse Eiland, a team that has not lost in years. In an ingenious weaving together of the two plot threads, Green makes the middle school game mean much more than it did before.

 If you can get beyond the unusual premise of a boy inheriting a major sports team, this story is great. It combines the strains of adolescence, the hysteria over football in Texas and the difficulties of an under-age child suddenly being in possession of great wealth. The inclusion of the Izzy character was also a stroke of genius, she is the grounding of Ryan within his world that is churning faster than he can cope.