LONESOME END

by Stephen W. Meader ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 9, 1968

Superkid comes to Kansas. Tod Ross moves with more self-assurance than most juvenile characters: he tries on a pair of fifty dollar boots and tells the clerk to hold them until afternoon when he'll return with the prize money he is going to win at a rodeo. He does win, goes back for the boots, and then his striking non-slick confidence snowballs into an impossible series of successes. He catches his first football, makes the first team, becomes a major factor (the lonesome end) in their strategy, suffers through wind, mud and a broken nose, catches his father's cattle rustlers on the way to the final game. The Prairie Cowboys take the championship and Tod is appointed chairman of the banquet committee at which the coach announces that next year the rookie will captain the team. He has too much going for him: his father shifts from not noticing his ability to donating roast beef for 250 at the banquet; rather forward Mary Ann Foster, who wins 4-H club prizes in baking, preserves and heifer raising, is on the end's trail; and he even has a team with strong ethnic representation--Jewish Aaron Weil, Negro Andy Willis, and Mexican Pancho Villa--all in littletown Prairie, Kansas. Some of the football scenes are really good and there is some attempt to share the wealth but not nearly enough.

Pub Date: Oct. 9, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harcourt, Brace & World

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1968

Categories: FICTION