Thomas J. Dygard

Have you ever dreamed of becoming a professional athlete? Well, Ted Bell the main character in the book The Rookie Arrives has dreamed of this his whole life and has finally gotten the chance. He was a very good high school baseball player and was picked up by the Kansas City Royals major league baseball team.

Ted Bell has a lot to learn from the drastic change, but he has someone there to help him, a veteran teammate. Cal a long-time pitcher has worked his way around the game, he will help Ted along the way. From Hotel to ballpark, back to the hotel, is the new life he would be living. Going straight from high school to a professional team is a big jump and Ted will find out along the way how different the sport really is. He finds out that there is already a player in his spot and sits on the bench. You will have to find out how he earns a starting spot. I liked that the book is about my favorite sport, baseball. I didn’t like how fast-paced the book was because it would jump from game to game or skip some parts. The theme of the book is Ted expects to be the best and get the starting spot right away, but he doesn’t.

He will have to prove himself to the manager and since he is young he hasn’t earned the trust of the manager, therefore Ted is doubted. There is some foreshadowing in this book, like when he is interviewed and he said the wrong things, after that the players were ashamed and mad at him. I recommend this novel, The Rookie Arrives because it is a good baseball with some drama and is an easy read, but it is a faster-paced book that skips some details that would’ve been good, so after reading this book I think that nothing is just given to you, everything must be earned, and a lesson can be learned from this book if you read it.… (más)

The Barton High Tigers’ head coach is injured and everyone is worried who’ll be the coach for Friday’s upcoming game, enter the student manager. Game Plan by Thomas J. Dygard follows Beano Hatton as he is propelled from nobody student manager to acting coach with all the pressures of school work and getting players to follow his lead, all while figuring out how to actually coach and prepare for a game.

Except for the first chapter, the narrative follows Beano Hatton beginning for being called to the principal’s office for the first time in his life—though not the last he’d have that week—and being asked to coach the Tigers football team against rivals Carterville. Except for telling his best friend Danny to cover for him as student manager, Beano keeps quiet until the Principal gives the team the news and hands it over to Beano. What follows is an awkward, stressful week as Beano figures out how Coach Pritchard scouts and makes up game plans while at the same time attempting to get the team to follow his lead, easier said than done with the star quarterback having an issue with him. But once Friday night comes and the ball is kicked, Beano has to manage the game.

From kickoff to the final whistle, Dygard writes a convincing flow of a football game which after the narrative build-up before and through the game of Beano making coaching decisions makes for a thrilling last third of the book. The first two-thirds of the book reads like a made-for-television young adult movie, but actually good. Though some of Dygard’s dialogue and words choices are a little off, they would be far superior to what one would hear and see on the aforementioned movie. The only other fault would be Dygard basically not having Coach Pritchard not have any notes on upcoming opponents which sounds far-fetched even for a little town high school coach with a staff of one.

Game Plan is one of those young adult sports books that is simply a good read that can be done in a day because it draws you in and frankly is nearly perfect for a book of its genre. Thomas J. Dygard hits all the right narrative keys to make this book keep the reader interested in how a nobody student manages to gain enough confidence of the football team to lead them through the last game of the season.… (más)

A small-town basketball team is playing against teams from the big cities looking to shock the state of Arkansas. Tournament Upstart by Thomas J. Dygard follows a little Class B team that’s decided to play against the big boys of Class A for the state championship, unfortunately not only do they have those teams to contend with but also their own internal struggles.

Taken from the perspective of their 23-year old rookie coach Floyd Bentley, the Cedar Grove Falcons arrive at Talbott State University trying not to be overawed by the big arena or facing the defending state champions in the quarterfinals. But after their upset victory, season-long tensions among the players boil up to the surface after Floyd’s inexperience with such a big event occurs. Over the next two days, Floyd attempts to get everyone back on the same page on the team even as they achieve another upset and then battle for the state championship that comes down to the final shot.

While the game action is well written, the basic set up at the beginning of the book—primarily how a team could go up a Class and the tournament still have the correct amount of teams—quickly raised questions followed closely by Floyd’s “mistake” which didn’t make much sense if you looked hard at it. The internal divisions were not bad, but they did strain the narrative somewhat.

Overall Tournament Upstart had a good premise but the young adult narrative quickly falls apart if looked at too closely. It’s not bad, but I’ve read other of Dygard’s work that I find better.… (más)