A novel about two student-athletes searching for stardom, a young reporter searching for the truth, and a crosstown basketball rivalry that goes too far. This was a great book that shows how a sport can be fun for the athlete and all involved or can be ruined by bad coaching or over-involved parents. A great book to read with your child.

A story of rival middle school teams, one from the rich north side and one from the poorer south side, leads to a question of what's the point of sports, winning or having fun?

Only in 8th grade, both captains of the teams have been pushed by friends, parents, teammates, and schools to be the best whatever the cost. What was supposed to be a friendly competition between schools turns into chaos over trouble by both schools.

Told in multiple formats from blog post, text messages, and multiple character perspectives you get to see what happens when everyone gets a little too serious and forgets what the point of the sport is all about.

A great teen read for sports fans.

Rivals by Tommy Greenwald, 320 pages. Abrams, 2021. $18.

Language: G (1 swears, 0 ‘f’); Mature Content: ; Violence:

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ESSENTIAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

Walthorne North (rich) and Walthorne South (not) might only be middle schools, but when it comes to basketball, the rival teams might as well be professionals for all the pressure that is applied to the players. Pressured, possibly, from someone to play injured; pressure from a parent to succeed even though the player is sizing out of basketball; pressure to “save the family” by making it to the NBA. Chatter on the students’ chat board only fuels the rivalry. Also Alfie, a promising sports reporter and the game caller, inadvertently fans the flames by making assumptions that may not be backed up by facts.

At first I thought it was odd that funny guy Greenwald was branching into sports books. But I say more the merrier. Especially as an alternative to the prolific, but cold Lupica. Greenwald crafts great stories and this is no different. It is a bit more difficult to immerse into because much of the action takes places through texts, chat boards, articles, and such. Al of the main characters are white.

Cindy, Library Teacher, MLS

With the start of basketball season, Carter and Austin’s old rivalry reignites. Star captains of the two middle schools in town, their schools’ differences fuel their resentments of each other. As tensions rise, will their rivalry go too far? Told through alternating points-of -view as well as in texts, social media posts, and radio interviews, readers are drawn into the worlds of the characters. Mixed with action scenes and scenes of Carter and Austin’s realistic struggles, the story will appeal to more than just basketball fans. Recommended for libraries where sports fiction is popular. 3.5 stars, gr 4 to 8
Please note: This was a review copy given to us by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. No financial compensation was received.

Tommy Greenwald's newest book, Rivals, will be a huge hit within middle school classrooms, particularly with any student that loves sports or journalism. The variety in formats, chapters in varying perspectives, and theme of the book will lend well to book clubs, mini-lessons, and small group work as well as the love of reading for students. I'm excited to put this into my teacher's classrooms.

This story is a captivating look at youth sports and how they have slowly become that on which adults pin their dreams. The characters, both adult and teenage, were completely believable. The story is tightly woven and makes its point without becoming preachy. A definite add for middle school libraries!

The town of Walthorne is obsessed with basketball. One huge rivalry is between the two boys middle school teams: the Walthrone South Panthers and the Walthorne North Cougars. Both sides of town are different, especially because Walthorne North is the wealthy side of town. As the basketball season comes to end, things start to really get out of control.

Austin is on the Cougars and has had privilege his whole life. His dad was almost a professional basketball player, but never made it. Ever since, he has done everything to make sure Austin becomes the basketball star he never was. Austin really enjoys basketball, but never considered himself very good. Carter is on the Panthers. He is considered to have a gift when it comes to basketball, and everything comes to him naturally. With his parents, in financial trouble, Carter feels this immense pressure to be the best to help his family, even if basketball isn't his true passion. Alfie has always wanted to be a sports reporter. She loves talking about sports but most of all, is focused on finding the true. As the boys basketball season ends, these three students lives with intertwine in unexpected ways as they all learn a lot about the meaning of sports.

Like Greenwald's previous novel, Game Changer, this is another powerful novel about the danger of sports. It show just how far coaches, parents, and teachers can push kids in sports, even at a young age. This book is told in multiple points of view from the main characters as well as sports commentary, text messages, message board postings, and articles. This book is going to be great for reluctant readers who will get sucked into the story. All of the characters are also very really and are easy to root for. They all make big mistakes, but learn from them in a very honest way. Greenwald has a real knack for portraying middle schoolers honestly. Game Changer was a huge hit in my library and I cannot wait to recommend this book as well. This will not only be great for readers, but will be great for book clubs, lit circles, and teaching units.

Rivals by Tommy Greenwald is an excellent exploration of the cultural issues surrounding youth sports, rivalries, different economic classes, and the internal conflict I'm sure many athletic youth face between their love for the game and all of the drama and demand that goes along with playing it. While the cover suggests a classic middle-grades sports story, and it certainly fits the genre, there is depth to be found here alongside some great starting off points for important discussions with young readers.

The main characters, Carter, Austin, and Alfie each go through their own struggles as they work through their increasing understanding that the demands the adults in their world place on them are killing their love of the game. This book highlights all the issues that permeate youth sports today: overbearing parents, supremely intense rivalries between children, the us-and-them mentality of families from different social classes, the pressure to succeed at all costs, and the pressure to secure the family's future through that success. All the kids in this book want to do is play ball- it is the adults whose pressures start to cause the kids to make poor choices. I think many youth athletes will find this book relatable and perhaps even eye-opening, and it should prompt some excellent discussions with students about the pressures the world places on their shoulders to be increasingly 'perfect' and 'successful' at increasingly younger ages.

One of the things I really love about this book is that the kids ultimately solve the social problems themselves- in fact, they actively work to get the adults out-of-the-way, so to speak, so that they can come together and unify over their love of basketball. This is a great message for kids in a position where the adults may not be able to be supportive in solving social problems, such as in school. It gives kids a blueprint for how to be better people now, where they are, rather than assuming that adults should be the ones to solve all the problems.

Now for the teachery bit: This book is a true middle-grades book. Content-wise, it's appropriate for upper-elementary students, but I think the true demographic is 7th-8th graders. There are some instances of bullying and some conflict that occur as part of sports trash-talk between kids, and some of this is based on race/ class (a student makes a disparaging comment suggesting that another student should go work at the country club like the rest of her family, for example). But, there are a lot of excellent examples of other kids in this book who are upstanders, not bystanders, including kids who are considered popular. Students see lots of great demonstrations of how to stand up in the moment when a friend or teammate makes an inappropriate comment. There is some diversity in this book, but all the central characters are white. It is noted early on that the town in which the book takes place has an obvious class division, where one middle school is mostly rich, white kids while the other school is lower-income and more diverse.

This is an excellent addition to any classroom library, and I think it would make a great book club offering or whole-class novel for students in grade 6 and lower-level readers in grade 7. I think on-level readers in grade 7 might find this book too easy a read, but there is enough depth to dive into characterization, theme, connections to the real world, etc. There are a ton of great articles, documentaries, etc. out there about youth sports, so this book could be a good basis for an argument or research unit as well!