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The Underdogs

4.06 of 5 stars 4.06 · rating details · 387 ratings · 103 reviews

Will Tyler can fly on a football field. He may not be the biggest running back around, but no one can touch him when it comes to hitting the hole and finding the end zone. And no one can match his love of the game. When Will has a football in hand, he may as well be flying for real because life can't touch him - his dad isn't so defeated, his town isn't so poor, and everyo...more

Hardcover, 280 pages

Published September 20th 2011 by Philomel (first published September 6th 2011)

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Feb 27, 2013 Joe Gerard rated it 4 of 5 stars

How would you like it if you came within a few yards of beating the football team you despise the most? Will Tyler didn't like it, and I'm pretty sure, if you were in his shoes, you wouldn't either. The Underdogs, by Mike Lupica is about how Will Tyler came within a few yards of beating his rival football team in the championship. Plus, his football team he played on wasn't able to play anymore, because the business that funded it, went out of business. After he hears the bad news, Will goes to...more

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Feb 06, 2013 Austin Cahill added it · review of another edition

I read the book called The Underdogs by Mike Lupica. This book is Will Tyler who lives in a small town in texas. He is the running back for the football team at his high school. He is the best player on his team even though he doent think he is very good. During the season he gets in trouble at school and has to earn his way back on the football team buy sitting out a couple games. they do really good in the season and has a chance to play in the tounourment but they are the underdog team. Can t...more

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Jan 05, 2013 Devaughn Tucker jr. rated it 4 of 5 stars

The book The Underdogs, is a good story if you are looking for a laugh and your spirits lifted. This book is about a young boy named Will Tyler that wants to save the football program in his home town of Forbes. He succeeds by writing a letter to the CEO of New Balance. Throughout the story there is no shortage of wisecracks and jokes but overall this is a story of courage, faith, and determination. The theme of this story is what goes around comes around. For example, the main characters father...more

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Dec 29, 2012 Melina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Mike Lupica is the bee’s knees if you’re looking for great children’s books about sports. Even though he writes about baseball and basketball and American Football, sports which are not terribly popular or played in Australia, he makes you care terribly about his characters – leading to a wonderful story for both sports fans and those not completely sold on sport.

The Underdogs is no exception, and it took all of a chapter for me to be totally engrossed in the world of Will and his rag tag footba...more

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Oct 23, 2012 Joey rated it 5 of 5 stars

Th Underdogs by Mike Lupica is a well written realistic fiction book that will make you read for hours. In the old city of Forbes where football is endangered because of money one loyal boy will try to save the legacy and future of this towns football team. But when he gets a call from his rival team he is in a pickle. Will he bring football back to Forbes or go to his rival team just to play for the year? Find out in this great sports story. Some strength of this book was how well written it wa...more

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Aug 31, 2012 Susie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Definitely formulaic and predictable: a town down on its luck, a boy who ends up talking his father into coaching, adding a girl to the team, coaxing the son of a loud bully to play, then partially transforming the loudmouth father by making him a coach, bringing together the entire town... the list goes on and on. Then I wondered if it would appear that way to students. At times I felt like Lupica was "writing down" to students, figuring they wouldn't know any better. One of the times Hannah to...more

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Jan 11, 2012 Kathy added it

The Underdogs
By: Mike Lupica
Critique by Matt Laguzza

Will Tyler is a 12 - year old boy who plays football for the Forbes Flyers Bulldogs. He runs as fast as he can on the football field. He trips at the 5-yard line and thinks it could be worse. Then he remembers when his dad got hit in the leg in his senior year and could not play anymore. Then he remembers fumbling in the Championship game against Castle Rock their biggest rivals, which costs them the game. Will sends a letter to New Balance say...more

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Jan 04, 2012 Karen Yingling rated it 5 of 5 stars

Will is a small but fast football player whose father was a high school football star until a tragic and career-ending knee injury. They live in Forbes, a small Pennsylvania town that has seen better days. The big employer in the area, a show company, closed years ago, and the town has never recovered. Now, they can't even afford the $10,000 to fund the local Pop Warner type football team on which Will was planning on playing. Luckily, Will won't give up and writes to New Balance shoes to see if...more Will is a small but fast football player whose father was a high school football star until a tragic and career-ending knee injury. They live in Forbes, a small Pennsylvania town that has seen better days. The big employer in the area, a show company, closed years ago, and the town has never recovered. Now, they can't even afford the $10,000 to fund the local Pop Warner type football team on which Will was planning on playing. Luckily, Will won't give up and writes to New Balance shoes to see if they will sponsor the team... and they agree to. The only problem is that so many people are leaving the town that it's hard to get people to play. Many people move to Castle Rock to work in the bottled water plant there, and some kids even go there to play on the soccer team. Will manages to round up other kids to play... including Hannah Grayson, a girl who is an awesome kicker and bigger than Will. While she is allowed on the team, the other players take time to warm up to her. Obstacle after obstacle in thrown in the team's way, but they dig deep to make their town proud.
Strengths: Wow. I knew that Lupica was a great sports writer, but this... this should be the Newbery next year. The characters are all realistic and well-developed, with many surprising characteristics. Hannah was AWESOME, and her relationship with Will was exactly the sort of one I would want to write. Real equals, despite their differences. The plot, while slightly predictable, has enough twists and turns to keep me madly flipping the pages. The best part of this is the overwhelming sense of sadness that as to be overcome, and the inclusion of the town of Forbes as a character. I cried. Really. And I have to post this quote at my desk (page 22): "The ball's not round," he said. "It'll take some funny bounces on you. You still gotta pick it up and keep running."
Weaknesses: I didn't understand why the town was playing for the football team, so it seemed slightly unrealistic. And, not to spoil the book for anyone, but I didn't think for one minute that Will's team would not win the championship.

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Dec 13, 2012 Dj Bynum rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1

This book is about a 12 year old runningback named Will Tyler that has the passion to play football and fight for his team. The Book the Underdogs is a great book for football lovers and a inspiration for people that dont believe in miracles.I liked this book because it tells people to never give up on your dream and that they also come true.This book is a great book for children, parents, teachers, and coaches because it tells people my age or even if an adult is struggling with a job or financ...more

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Jul 17, 2012 Jeffrey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012, sports

No coach, no money for uniforms, not enough boys to play football. No problem. Will Tyler, the likeable hero of The Underdogs will find a way to solve the problems facing his team.

Mike Lupica, the New York Daily News columnist, has penned several sport books about kids in baseball and basketball. Typically the kids have to overcome obstacles on the field, but also off of the field. I grew up reading a lot of sports books for kids and have read other Lupica novels. They are high quality entertain...more No coach, no money for uniforms, not enough boys to play football. No problem. Will Tyler, the likeable hero of The Underdogs will find a way to solve the problems facing his team.

Mike Lupica, the New York Daily News columnist, has penned several sport books about kids in baseball and basketball. Typically the kids have to overcome obstacles on the field, but also off of the field. I grew up reading a lot of sports books for kids and have read other Lupica novels. They are high quality entertaining novels for kids, who like to read about sports.

In this novel, Will Tyler is a star halfback, who fumbled the ball last year in the league championship game. A year later, he dreams of going back to the championship game and winning. However, Lupica skillfully places this novel squarely in the economic times we live in today. Tyler’s town, Forbes, Pennsylvania, is in economic decline. The sneaker factory has closed leaving half the town unemployed. Will's father is delivering the mail and going to school at night to try to learn new skills. The town is trying to scrape by with limited resources so it decides to cancel the football program for middle school. The team Tyler played for has no coach and no uniforms. It needs $10,000 just to play.

Tyler finds a way to get a sponsor to put up the money to allow the school to field a team. Now he has to find a coach and 10 other kids to play football. He convinces his father, who used to be a star high school football star that he needs football and should coach the team. Tyler finds only 9 other boys to play.

The problem is that one of the boy’s from last year’s team has an ex football star father who loudly ridicules his son from the sidelines. The boy, Troy, will not play. Tyler knows a girl Hannah who has game. He convinces his father, the coach, and then the rest of the team to let her join. This is not a novel about girls playing football. Lupica has Hannah join the team, but its Tyler's story and Hannah playing football is just one of the subplots in the story.

Now that the team has 11 players and a coach it has to play the games. Lupica doesn’t bore young readers with a lot of sports vernacular. The prose is readable and easily accessible.

Tyler’s team faces more obstacles along the way to the big game including the loss of a star player to injury and the loss of Tyler's best friend, who has to move away mid season, but the team gets help from an unexpected quarter and Tyler gets to once again go for the winning score in the big game.

It’s a fun book for fans of juvenile sports books.
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Oct 15, 2011 Karen Ball rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-challenge

My dad once told me it takes no talent to get knocked down, especially in a game like football. He said it's how you get back up that counts.
Will Tyler is the fastest 12-year-old player in Forbes, PA, and he's desperate for a rematch with the Castle Rock team that beat them in the championship last year. Unfortunately, the town is losing jobs and poeple are moving out, and that means they haven't got enough money for his team... they barely have enough for the high school team. Will's Hail Mary...more

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Aug 02, 2012 Stacy Ford rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: kennedy-2012, cre, sports, boy-protagonist

Will Tyler lives for football. He is a football machine. He has the "it" factor that will send him to the pros. Will Tyler is 11 and lives in the dying town of Forbes, Pennsylvania. Dying so much that there isn't enough money for the city to fund the 11 year old football team. After sending off a letter to the CEO of New Balance Will successfully nags a sponsor for the team. However, he still needs 11 more players. This is tough, but will is able to wrangle 11 more players, including the new gir...more Will Tyler lives for football. He is a football machine. He has the "it" factor that will send him to the pros. Will Tyler is 11 and lives in the dying town of Forbes, Pennsylvania. Dying so much that there isn't enough money for the city to fund the 11 year old football team. After sending off a letter to the CEO of New Balance Will successfully nags a sponsor for the team. However, he still needs 11 more players. This is tough, but will is able to wrangle 11 more players, including the new girl in town who can punt like a pro. Then he has to convince his dad, who thinks football ruined his life, to be the coach. Yeah, Will Tyler is an optimist who loves football.

I loved rooting for Will, even when he felt bad for himself, he was looking for a way to turn it around. This is a great sports story for anyone who has ever been the underdog!

Literary Quality: Lupica doesn't pull any punches. He deftly describes Forbes, Will Tyler, Will's friends and football with a craftiness that left this non-athletic librarian wishing he could have played on an 11 year old team. The characters face lots of challenges but rally to create a rough edged ensemble. This book doesn't have anything special, other than the fact it rallys for the underdogs!

Originality of Text: The sports story narrative of Will Tyler and the Underdogs was just what you expected. However, I loved that and I think kids will too!

Clarity/Style of Language: Straight forward. No room for doubt. Clear writing that boys will adore.

Design/Format: Chapter book.

Organization/Accuracy: I trust that Lupica, a seasoned sports reporter, knows more about football than I do.

Interest to Children: Boys who love football will like this book. Lupica smartly includes lots of football scenes and terminology.

Acceptance by Children: See Above.

BOTTOM LINE: Athletes will love this book. Especially boys, but also girls! I think this book would make a strong addition because it has a plot that will engage boys and girls alike. (less)

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Mar 23, 2013 Sally Kruger added it

I borrowed this one from one of my students the other day. I love it when kids have parents who spend money on books!

THE UNDERDOGS by Mike Lupica has Will Tyler trying to save football for the twelve year olds in his town. After a solitary workout on the town field left him stumbling when his foot landed in a hole in the neglected turf, Will decided he wasn't going to sit back and accept the fact that their team would not be able to play this year.

Forbes was hit hard by the economic recession. T...more

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Nov 01, 2012 Connor rated it 2 of 5 stars

Now that I've read this book more i think that i liked the million dollar throw more because, it was more interesting and it made you wanna read more, as of this book it actually kinda boring in some parts, it was better in the beginning when you were getting to know the characters. in million dollar throw i could understand where the main character Nate Brodie was coming from and this book gets a little complicated sometimes.

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Mar 22, 2013 Sam M rated it 5 of 5 stars

280 pages
realistic fiction

Will Tyler is very fast on a football field. He isn't the biggest running back in his town, but no one can touch him when he is finding the end zone. He also loves the game of football. WHen his dad played the field was in good shape and and the town was doing well. But now the town is poor and the field is in bad shape. Also the town might cancel the football program because they cant afford it. Now someone has to raise enough money for the uniforms, the equipment and...more

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Jan 26, 2013 Josiah rated it 3 of 5 stars

"My dad says that one of the best things about sports is when it makes us feel as if we're all in something together."

—Will Tyler, The Underdogs, P. 255

You can count me as a believer in what Mike Lupica is trying to do as an author. It's easy for aims and goals in the creation of literature to fragment in a million little directions, all slightly varied from one other, each intended solely to please a particular small demographic of readers. For most kids' sports books and most writers of spo...more

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Aug 31, 2012 Samantha rated it 3 of 5 stars

Will Tyler can fly on the football field and he lives for the game. Even after the humiliation of tripping during the Championship game last season, serving his team’s archrival the win on a silver platter, he can’t wait for the new season to begin. Too bad his small town of Forbes, Pennsylvania is in such a budget crunch they can’t even afford the $10,000 it will cost to sponsor the city league team. The last vestige of promise the town held was an athletic shoe factory that was forced out of b...more

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Mar 04, 2013 Mack Toomer rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is written by Mike Lupica- a famous sports writer- it follows a character named Will Tyler. Will is a running back for his high school football team.

The conflict in this story is that the school doesn't have funding for uniforms, field etc. Will will have to convince the town and the school that they need a football program.

If you like books about sports, hope, and inspiration I suggest you read this book. I enjoyed this book because I myself enjoy sports and I could relate to what...more

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Jun 19, 2012 Carly rated it 4 of 5 stars

I love books about sports. This one was particularly great because it also had a strong female character, and she plays sports too. With the boys. Awesome! (I grew up knowing a girl like this. She played football with the boys and beat the pants off them. She also played baseball, even though there was a girls league, with the boys because she was that tough. And her name was Lucy. Love it.)

I enjoyed the story. Things turn out a little too perfectly to be totally realistic but, then again, it is...more

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Feb 19, 2013 Alexis rated it 1 of 5 stars

I hated this book. The girl who is suppose to defy all the odds and win the male protagionist's friends over ends up being nothing but a love interest.
I read it to the end to see it through but that bothered me wicked. How dare he reduce a character with such awesome potential into nothing but a first kiss for the boy. Yeah, he gets his happy ending, but what about her? She had to overcome all that adversity and she gets a kiss and nothing else is said about how hard she fought?

Maybe it's just a...more

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May 16, 2013 Andy rated it 2 of 5 stars

I usually don't give 2 stars to books, but this book, even though intended for a very specific audience, just didn't hit the mark for me. I thought it was contrite, predictable, and there wasn't much in that was surprising. The characters who were going to get hurt, got hurt, who were going play, played, and on and on. I'm not a 7th or 8th grade boy who plays football, who I know I wasn't the intended audience here, but there could have been a little mystery to the book, a little sumpa that woul...more

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Aug 29, 2011 Tami rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: goodreads-giveaways, 2011

I haven't received the book yet, just received notice I had won. 8/01/11
Received in the mail yesterday and hope to start soon. I have 3 plus my current read in front. 8/16/11
Started and finished this weekend. 8/29/11

Forbes is a small town that is slowly dying since the major factory shut down. 12 year old Will lives for football and the city counsel has determined there isn't enough money in the budget for the 12 year olds to have a team this year. Will decides to write New Balance to see if may...more

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Nov 05, 2012 James Fain rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a great book about a boy named Will who is one of the best football players in the seventh grade (maybe in the whole town). He's been playing all his life, but the town doesn't have enough money to even HAVE a league in Forbes, PA, where he lives.

My analysis is Will has done a great job trying to get the team of at least eleven players for the season because all the other coaches and players have moved out since they thought there wasn't going to be another season. He still has a few o...more

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May 21, 2012 Tyler Cottam rated it 4 of 5 stars

What's your favorite sport? Football? Basketball? Well can you imagine not having enough money to pay for jerseys and equipment to play? Will Tyler a young kids favorite sport, football, just wants to play. But as he realizes that they might not have enough money to pay for the "needs." Is Will going to be able to get the football needs paid for? The 10,000 dollar mark seems out of reach to them. But nothing is out of reach to Will. How will he be able to do it? If you love books that are always...more

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Feb 15, 2013 Mrs. Pauly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: realistic-fiction

Will Tyler was born to play football and has incredible talent. However, his town is crumbling since its biggest employer, a shoe factory, closed its doors years ago. Those who haven't left are struggling to find work and put food on the table. So when Will and his twelve-year-old friends discover that there isn't a budget for their football team, he springs into action to save the one thing he loves the most. Can he convince New Balance to sponsor his team so that they can face off with Castle...more

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Oct 03, 2011 John Wetterholt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Mike Lupica is very reliably able to crank out inspiring sports-related novels for middle schoolers, and this one, about a 7th grader working to get his football team rescued from budget axes, works really well. Not only does Will line up a corporate sponsor for his team, but he persuades his dad, a high school football hero in his day, to coach, encourages a reluctant but talented player with a loudmouth father to join the team, and gets the group of boys to accept an amazingly talented girl as...more

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Apr 26, 2012 Rachel Lunstroth rated it 3 of 5 stars

I personally liked this book even though it was below my lexile level. I liked how that the team finally excepted the girl on the team. I play baseball and i know that is not always the case. I loved how Will and the other team became so close and never gave up. This book reminds me so much of myself as Will as a girl playing baseball even down to the point where i can to convice my dad. My dad ven has knee problems and my best friend moved away. This book to me was very predictable because it s...more

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Nov 20, 2012 Anna rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is about a young boy, Joey, who's a football star. Except the only thing in between his dream of a football year was no football team. He made some calls just to finds out he was short 2 players and don't forget about a coach. It took a lot of time, effort and making some new friends but eventually the player part was fulfilled but a coach was no where to be found. His dad was out of the picture because of a knee injury but was he?

I love this book because all the pain Joey is going th...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Trevor Bruse rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: relistic-fiction

I think this book was good because it is the same old story about an underdog team.First you meet Thrill as some people call him.Will Tyler average kid who loves to play football. He has no idea what is about to happen to him. He can't have a football season from lack of town funds but do you think that stops him?No he goes out and tackles the job of finding money in a town that was booming 13 years ago after his dad blew out his knee in college football. After that slowly the sneaker factory fo...more

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Feb 23, 2013 Angie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-s-fiction, realistic-fiction, website, mark-twain-nominees, book-club-books

Will lives for football; he is a football star. Unfortunately his town, Forbes, PA, is running out of money and decides they can't fund the football team this year. Forbes has seen better days; the Forbes Flyers shoe factory has gone out of business and taken all the jobs with it. People are moving away and the town is slowly dying. Will writes to New Balance and asks them to sponsor the team; and of course they do. Now he just has to get a team together. He convinces his dad, former football pl...more

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