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Last Man Out

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
From the #1 bestselling author of HeatTravel Team and Fantasy League comes a story of heroes, family, the thrills of skateboarding, and football.
When the Brighton Bears suit up on game day, 12-year-old Tommy Gallagher is the toughest kid on the football field. And the bravest. After all, his father Patrick is a Boston firefighter—one of Boston's bravest. Tommy's dad taught him everything he knows about football—and life.
Yet even Tommy isn't strong enough for what happens when the sirens ring and, for the first time, they're racing away from the fire. "First man in; last man out" had always been his dad's motto . . . yet he never said anything about leaving in an ambulance. What kind of risk had his dad taken? Now Tommy's biggest battle has nothing to do with football. And the kid who always had such respect for risk on the gridiron finds himself drawn to it off the field.
Set in New England, home of the Patriots' football dynasty, Mike Lupica shows off his trademark knack for spinning a tale that's equal parts sports action and heart. Last Man Out is a thoughtful tribute to the bravery of firefighters and the need we all have to live up to the level of our heroes.
Praise for Last Man Out
"[S]hort, action-packed chapters . . . will keep even the most reluctant readers motivated to keep reading. As is characteristic of Lupica’s books, the sports segments, most particularly the football portions, are exceptionally well written."—VOYA
"Lupica stirs equal quantities of grief and gridiron action into his latest outing. Lupica effectively puts readers into the center of the action . . . [I]n the best traditionsof sports writing, this will leave readers both breathless and thoughtful."—Booklist
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    • Kirkus

      July 15, 2016
      A middle school football player grieves his father's death both on and off the field.Tommy Gallagher, defensive star "monster back" (a flexible position that can shift between safety and linebacker as necessary to make big plays), is having a phenomenal game when tragedy strikes: his firefighter father doesn't make it out of a burning building in time. Tommy has a strong support system but struggles to see that he's bottling up his emotions and then releasing them in unhealthy ways playing. Once he understands this, however, he then starts erring the other way, playing football with too much hesitancy and not enough joy. His path to overcoming grief is not linear, punctuated instead with believable backslides. Meanwhile, his soccer-star younger sister deals in a different way, shutting down completely and even leaving her sport. Uniting, they see reflections of their father in each other. Serviceable writing sometimes veers into cheesy or repetitive territory but is strongest in its depiction of Tommy's emotional tunnel-vision and--of course--in the football itself, where the analytic intellect and pattern recognition required for reading offenses proves quarterbacks aren't the only brains on the field. Aside from white, Irish-American Tommy, racial markers are mostly absent, and the characters mostly come from Boston's largely white Brighton neighborhood (fans of other teams should be warned that Patriots references abound). Believable pain and recovery against a solid football backdrop. (Fiction. 10-14)

      COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Booklist

      September 1, 2016
      Grades 5-8 Lupica stirs equal quantities of grief and gridiron action into his latest outing. Tommy Gallagher, 12-year-old star strong safety on the Brighton Bears, is devastated when his wonderful, worshiped firefighter dad dies in the course of a rescue. The tragedy occurs during the second game of a season that features one suspenseful contest after another, leaving Tommy struggling both on and off the field, while trying to be there as best he can for his mom and his withdrawn little sister. Lupica effectively puts readers into the center of the action, both during games and at home with the undemonstrative but deeply emotional Gallagher family. Eventually Tommy, who has discovered that skateboarding provides a good outlet for his repressed feelings, winds up with a separated shoulder that keeps him out of the championship game. But even from the sidelines, he manages to make a key contribution to the game, and in the best traditions of sports writing, this will leave readers both breathless and thoughtful.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • ATOS Level:5.2
  • Lexile® Measure:840
  • Interest Level:4-8(MG)
  • Text Difficulty:4-5

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