Making The Team

“My mom’s all the way in Los Angeles somewhere. The only thing she cares about is a TV show. Yeah, she says she loves me. Yeah, she says she misses me. Yeah, she says she wants to be home, but she’s not. She and my dad…well, there’s something going on between them. I just think it might be over. I wish I could fix it. I wish I could make it better, but I can’t.”

Book: Making the Team (Alec London Series) by Stephanie and Derrick Moore, Moody Publishers, 2011

 

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Target Audience: Boys 10-13

Subjects:  Divorce, Family Relationships, Friendship, Salvation

Summary: Things are going from bad to worse for Alec. Parents are separated, his mom left them to go to California and pursue a career in a TV-show, his terror of a grandma has come to take over the house, his Dad took the job of vice-principal at his school, his brother hates him for getting the position he wanted on the football team and if all that wasn’t bad enough, his own anger and frustration are spilling over at school making his friends mad at him. Alec is miserable but he’s too upset to even try to talk to his mom. He doesn’t know what to say to his dad when he asks if everything is ok. Things aren’t ok and won’t be until his mom comes back home – if she ever does.

Notes: This is the story of a 4^th grade boy and his older brother and how they deal with the pressures in their life when their parents decide to separate for a time. Their family isn’t particularly religious, but Alec has a friend that invites him to Church where he learns to put his trust in God, even when everything goes wrong. He learns that He has to actually “get on God’s team”. Through the story of Joseph, he learns to trust that God is listening and caring even if it doesn’t seem like it.

Recommendation Scale: 4/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

Psalm 142:1-7 – I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy. I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble. When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way. In the path where I walk men have hidden a snare for me. Look to my right and see; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life. I cry to you, O Lord; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.

Thank you to Moody Publishers for providing a free review copy! 

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