Love this one, and my students do, too. Paul Volponi is an auto buy for me. His characters and sports descriptors make so much sense.

Grades 6 - 8, Grades 9 - 12: What must it be like to be in middle school and be incredibly talented in a sport--so talented, in fact, that you are recruited by a college while still in middle school? That is the scenario Paul Volponi explores in "Top Prospect." Travis Gardner gets a break that many middle school students can only dream about--his brother Carter is offered a football scholarship to Gainesville University, and while the coach is extending that offer, Travis gets the opportunity to meet Coach Elvis Goddard. The invitation to use Gainesville's sports facilities becomes Travis's entry ticket to college sports. Any suggestion Coach Goddard makes, Travis immediately implements to the instantaneous improvement of his game. After just a few meetings, Coach Goddard extends an informal scholarship and Travis becomes fully immersed in the world of college sports--including a seamy underbelly that he never expected. Volponi is one of my favorite authors, and while he abandons the gritty language of some of his early work, he doesn't shy away from some of the biggest controversies surrounding college athletics. He skillfully explores the pressures as well as sibling dynamics using not only prose from Travis's perspective, but short snippets of Carter's perspective and news articles from "The Gainesville Sentinel." Volponi's Afterward supplies statistical information about the practice of recruiting "understandings" between colleges and promising middle school athletes. This title will have appeal for athletes spanning a wide age range. Verdict: This is a fabulous companion to books like "Stick" by Michael Harmon or nonfiction books like "The System" by Jeff Benedict.
Curricular Use: Volponi's use of newspaper articles provides an opportunity to discuss Craft and Structure [ELA 5: Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g. a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole; ELA 6: Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text] as well as Integration of Knowledge and Ideas [ELA 9: Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take]. This is also a title that could be used as a discussion tool for the the Washington State Health Education Core Ideas related to Substance Use and Abuse (since the use of performance enhancing drugs is addressed), Social Emotional Heath (specifically Stress Management), and Wellness.

Even as I read this I knew it would be a great one to share with students because of how they would relate to the main character and the reality of his situation. Already purchased and book talked. It now spends more time off the shelf than on and that is always good because it means students a spreading the love via word of mouth!