Synopses & Reviews
From the #1 bestselling author of Heat, Travel Team and Million-Dollar Throw comes a feel-good basketball tale reminiscent of The Blind Side.
Forced to live on his own after his mom dies and her boyfriend abandons him, 12-year-old Jayson does whatever it takes to get by. He will do anything to avoid the foster care system. Besides, his real home has always been the beat-up basketball court behind the projects in the North Carolina hills, and his family has always been his friends and teammates. He manages to get away with his deception until the day he gets caught stealing a new pair of basketball sneakers. Game over. Within a day a social worker places him with a family from the other side of town, the Lawtons. New home, new school, new teammates.
Jayson, at first, is combatative, testing the Lawtons' patience at every turn. He wants out, yet the Lawtons refuse to take the bait. But not everyone in Jayson's new life is so ready to trust him--and even Jayson's old friends now give him a hard time now that he's attending a school full of rich kids. It's on Jayson to believe that he deserves a better life than the one he once had. The ultimate prize if he can? A trip to play in the state finals at Cameron Indoor Stadiumhome to the Duke Blue Devils and launching pad to his dream of playing bigtime college ball. Getting there will be a journey that reaches far beyond the basketball court.
In the tradition of uplifting stories like The Blind Side, Fast Break has all the family-friendly sports action Mike Lupica has become known and loved for.
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"Starred Review. As he did so memorably for baseball in Moneyball, Lewis takes a statistical X-ray of the hidden substructure of football, outlining the invisible doings of unsung players that determine the outcome more than the showy exploits of point scorers.... Combining a tour de force of sports analysis with a piquant ethnography of the South's pigskin mania, Lewis probes the fascinating question of whether football is a matter of brute force or subtle intellect." Publishers Weekly
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"It's much more than a treatise on football; it's an exploration of the limits of conventional thinking and how strategic changes affect the value of quick-footed behemoths.... That he makes it easy for his reader to comprehend--and enjoy--is enough for most critics to give Lewis's latest a rousing cheer." Bookmarks Magazine
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"?works on three levels. First as a shrewd analysis of the NFL; second, as an exposé of the insanity of big-time college football recruiting; and, third, as a moving portrait of the positive effect that love, family, and education can have in reversing the path of a life that was destined to be lived unhappily and, most likely, end badly." George F. Will New York Times Book Review
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"A wonderful tale." John Gapper
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"Lewis has made a habit of writing about sport recently, but sport is really only a subtext for a much more meaningful examination of class and race. I wept at the end, something I have not done at the end of a work of non-fiction for a very long time." Financial Times
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"The strongest strand of The Blind Side is about sporting strategy. When brain defeats brawn in one of Michael Lewis's books, you can almost hear the prose style lift off." Malcolm Gladwell The Observer - Books of the Year 2006
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"Provides deep insights about sport and America." Ed Smith The Times [London]
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" " Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Blink
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" " A.G. Gancarski
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" " Washington Times
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" " Janet Maslin New York Times
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" " Allen Barra Washington Post
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" " George F. Will New York Times Book Review
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" " Jay Hancock
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" " Bill Littlefield Boston Globe
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" " The Economist
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" " Baltimore Sun
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" " Malcolm Gladwell
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" " Wes Lukowsky Booklist
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"It's not a jock book. It's not a sociology book. It's a storybook about modern society, ancient virtues, and the power of love, money and talent to do a little good." Jay Hancock
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"?is as insightful and moving a meditation on class inequality in America as I have ever read--although to put it that way, I realize, makes it sound deadly dull. It isn't." Baltimore Sun
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"Lewis's overview of the evolution of NFL strategy... is not only sound but shrewder than that of many so-called football insiders who can't see the forest for the trees." Malcolm Gladwell
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"[Lewis] is advancing a new genre of journalism." Allen Barra Washington Post
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"Combining a tour de force of sports analysis with a piquant ethnography of the South's pigskin mania, Lewis probes the fascinating question of whether football is a matter of brute force or subtle intellect." Wes Lukowsky Booklist
Synopsis
Opening in theaters November 20, 2009, The Blind Side is a feature movie based on Michael's Lewis's New York Times bestseller, produced by Alcon Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The Blind Side tells the inspirational story of Michael Oher, a homeless black teen taken under the wing of the Touhys, a wealthy white Memphis family. Oher's size and speed on the football field bring him accolades. But learning the game's strategy and making it as a student take the help of his new family, coaches, and tutor.
Sandra Bullock stars as Leigh Anne Touhy, the sharp-witted and compassionate matriarch. Tim McGraw stars as her sports-enthusiast husband. Oscar winner Kathy Bates plays Miss Sue, Oher's indefatigable tutor. Quinton Aaron has his first major role as Oher. John Lee Hancock, who directed The Rookie and The Alamo, writes and directs the film.
Michael Oher was just drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens. This edition includes a new afterword bringing Oher's life up to date through college and the NFL.
Synopsis
When we first meet him, Michael Oher is one of thirteen children by a mother addicted to crack; he does not know his real name, his father, his birthday, or how to read and write. He takes up football, and school, after a rich, white, Evangelical family plucks him from the streets. Then two great forces alter Oher: the family's love and the evolution of professional football into a game where the quarterback must be protected at any cost. Our protagonist becomes the priceless package of size, speed, and agility necessary to guard the quarterback's greatest vulnerability, his blind side.
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Soon to be a major motion picture starring Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw, "The Blind Side" tells the inspirational story of Michael Oher, a homeless black teen who, with the help of his new family, coaches, and tutors, becomes a star football player and first-round NFL draft pick.
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Opening on November 20, 2009, as a major motion picture, starring Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw.
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Provides deep insights about sport and America.
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The New York Times Bestseller
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The book behind the Academy award-winning film starring Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw--over one million copies sold.
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About the Author
Mike Lupica is the #1 bestselling author of many popular books for young readers, including Fantasy League, QB 1, Heat, Travel Team, Million-Dollar Throw, and The Underdogs. He has carved out a niche as the sporting worlds finest storyteller. Mike lives in Connecticut with his wife and their four children. When not writing novels, Mike Lupica writes for New York's Daily News, appears weekly on ESPN's The Sports Reporters, and hosts The Mike Lupica Show on ESPN Radio. You can visit Mike Lupica at mikelupicabooks.com