CRAZIEST CAJUN FOOTBALL TALE
by Gary Alipio ; illustrated by Melina Alipio
A middle-child yearns to be a football star in Alipio’s middle-grade novel.
Twelve-year-old Hatcher “Hatch” Elvis Hampton is the second of three children in a family led by a single mother in Louisiana. His younger brother, Harper, is “given the nickname tonsils because he’s a four-year old pain in [Hatch’s] neck,” and his older brother, Hunter, is varsity captain of the football team and First Team All-State. They are joined by their cousin Heatha, who comes to stay with them while dealing with some family problems of her own. They live a somewhat old-fashioned lifestyle, with no video games or iPads or Netflix, so Hatch spends his time making up football plays in his head with the goal of becoming a gridiron star like his older brother. It’s his number one ambition in life: “What’s not to like about football? The crisp air. The fresh cut grass. The roar of the crowd. Not to mention maybe one day I’ll create a football play that people will talk about forever.” The problem is, he’s just not very big or confident, and he struggles to find his footing when trying out for the school team. This haplessness extends to his school life in general—he tries to ingratiate himself with the sporty kids at lunch but instead trips and spills his food all over the school library. Hatch does eventually earn a spot on the B-Team, which has a new coach: Heatha’s estranged father. What begins as farce broadens to include more serious considerations of family, belonging, and trying to find hope in difficult circumstances. Alipio keeps the narrative buoyant with jokes and a light tone, but he is able to deftly explore more challenging issues as he digs into Hatch and Heatha’s deeper motivations. The text is divided into short chapters (rarely longer than five pages) and supplemented by occasional black-and-white illustrations by Melina Alipio, helping to make the novel a fun and engaging read for football fans and realistic fiction fans alike.
Fast-paced and occasionally silly, with just the right amount of heart.