Football Hero

By Tim Green

Sport: Football

Rating: 3 1/2 stars

Former football player Tim Green continues his sports novels for kids with this entry; his previous story is Football Genius. In this story, Ty's parents were killed in a car crash and he is now living in very poor conditions with his aunt, uncle and cousin. There is no love in the household, and Uncle Gus even gets 12 year old Ty working papers so he can help out in the cleaning business with cousin Charlotte. There are but two glimmers of hope in Ty's life: the football coach recruits him as a wide receiver and his much older brother Thane is about to be in the NFL draft as a high pick for the New York Jets. Ty can impress the coach, but can he live through the bullying of an aggressive teammate? Meanwhile, Uncle Gus, for whom gambling with the local mob is a problem, sees opportunity. When Thane refuses to give money outright to him, Uncle Gus pressures Ty to get inside injury information about the Jets for him instead. Ty just does his best to try and keep his money-grubbing uncle away from Thane, but gets drawn into a web of deceit. Then when he tries to stand up for himself on the football field, he gets in trouble. Where can Ty turn? What can he do to get out of this mess? Although this story is fairly close to unbelievable (although sports and gambling are very real issues), sports fans will enjoy the sports action and everyone will hope for a happy ending for Ty.