EYES ON THE GOAL

School’s out, fifth grade is over and best friends Jackson, Gig, Isaac and Diego are off to soccer camp. In this second of a four-book, four-sport series, following Top of the Order (2009), Coy offers another successful story of sports and friends, which, like all good sports stories, transcends sports to represent a slice of real life. Jackson wonders about his life now that his mother has a new boyfriend, Gig worries about his father’s deployment to Afghanistan and suddenly the boys are noticing girls. At camp, the difficulties provoked when Diego and Gig are placed in a more advanced level are balanced against the boys’ efforts to investigate some possible ghosts. The author captures the fifth graders’ sensibility, language and loyalty to each other through Jackson’s direct, present-tense narration, and short, simple sentences, lots of dialogue and plenty of soccer action make this a sure hit with young sports fans. A solid, simply told sports story for readers not yet ready for John Feinstein, Mike Lupica and Robert Lipsyte. (Fiction. 8-12)