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Crackback

3.87 of 5 stars 3.87 · rating details · 512 ratings · 143 reviews

In his gripping debut novel, acclaimed picture book author John Coy presents the high stakes world of high school football, where doing what it takes to win doesn't always mean doing the right thing.

When Miles Manning, a successful high school football player, discovers his teammates are using steroids--and one of them is his best friend--he's faced with a tough decision:...more

Hardcover, 208 pages

Published November 1st 2005 by Scholastic Press

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Mar 05, 2008 Tay Mackey rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone of any ages if you like sports books

Shelves: book-report-books

The book is called Crackback. It is about a Kid named Miles Manning, and he is a junior in high school. He is a star on the football team. He is the only good underclassman on the team also. He faces all the challenges. He goes to parties with friends and has to avoid the peer pessure of not drinking and not smoking. The prom is also coming up and he has someone he wants to ask on his mind. You have to read the book to figure out if his team can win state and regions championship. I liked becaus...more

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May 07, 2013 Dejah rated it 2 of 5 stars

I chose this book because I enjoy reading sports stories. Crackback is about junior Miles Manning, one of the star players on his highschool football team. Miles' year is kicked off to a great start. He makes first line and even gets his father to appreciate himself a bit more. However, later on in the season, his teammates decide that it's time to enhance their performance--with steroids. Notonly does he get pressured with drugs, but his favorite coach is forced to stay away from coaching footb...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Josh Lar is currently reading it

Crackback by John Coy is about a junior in high school named Miles Manning that plays football with some of his best friends. He is a starter on defense and started the season with a great game. He has a crush on a girl and asks her to the home coming dance but gets rejected. Later during the season his friends give him pills and tell him to take them because it will help him get pumped for the games and preform better but he doesn't take them. When the teams head football coach gets sick and ha...more

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Mar 01, 2013 Xavier is currently reading it

I am still reading crackback by Jhon Coy. So far this book is about a typical high school teenager who loves to play football. The main character Miles Manning is in high school and plays football for his school he is small but he plays defence because he can hit. His coaches Sepolski and Stahl are always on him but its mainly coach Stahl is on him to be better. For example Miles got an interception in the begining of the game and at the end of the game the score was 45-3 and coach Stahl said to...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Devin Oettinger rated it 4 of 5 stars

Crack back by John Coy has a lot of ups and downs throughout the story. Some people may like the story line just because there into sports novels. To really know what’s going on you have to understand the game of football. At times the author will refer to football terms and you might get lost if you don’t know what he is talking about.
A couple things I liked about this book are the author knew a lot about high school football. I’ve read books wear they know a little bit about sports but not en...more Crack back by John Coy has a lot of ups and downs throughout the story. Some people may like the story line just because there into sports novels. To really know what’s going on you have to understand the game of football. At times the author will refer to football terms and you might get lost if you don’t know what he is talking about.
A couple things I liked about this book are the author knew a lot about high school football. I’ve read books wear they know a little bit about sports but not enough and there are things that the author misses or leaves out that are really important. One more like about this book is that I can relate to the main character Miles and the other characters because they are the same age as I am. A couple dislikes about the book, football is one of my least favorite sports to play, watch, or learn about. Another dislike is the drinking and the drugs, yes its reality, but I didn’t like that they mentioned it because I’m not into any of that stuff.
The audience for this book would have to like sports and really get the game of football. There are vocabulary words that are mentioned throughout the book like crack back which means the player comes from the outside. If you don’t see the block coming it can destroy you when you turn. So it can be a confusing book if you don’t know football or its vocabulary. But it also can be for the people that don’t know much and want to learn because it does give you a lot of knowledge about football. If you don’t know much you will get confused by the play calling and drills.
Miles Manning is one of the main characters in this book he is not the smartest kid in his class but he is not a follower either. I would say he is a leader and that’s he is likeable. He has faced many adversities, playing football for a coach he least favored after the head coach became Ill, a dad that physically and mentally abused him and he also over came going from a starting position to hardly playing. In the beginning of the book he loved the sport of football more than anything and quickly realized there was more to high school that sports. This showed that he has changed as a person and can focus on other things than football. Even though the team was favored to win the conference and go to state, Miles football career was he expected.
I thought this was a good book and I can compare myself to Miles. I have played a lot of sports and know what the coach expects and how you teammates decision impact the outcome of the game. I could feel how Miles felt about his role change from starting position to hardly playing. It hurts a lot more when you love the game and you feel you can only do so much. This book made me realize that playing a sport isn’t the most important thing in life. Any sport builds character and discipline but building your own identity can be just as important.
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Dec 09, 2012 Alex Schemel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Crackback
By: John Coy
Crackback is about a junior football player in high school. He struggles with loved ones getting sick, friends, girls, and keeping a starting position on the football team.
Crackback is realistic fiction. I would definitely recommend this book to all guys who play sports in high school. It shows that it’s hard for everyone to balance out all of their priorities, but there’s a way to make it all workout. My favorite quotation was “Sometime in football a play unfolds that is...more

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Oct 03, 2012 Vivian Coria rated it 4 of 5 stars

John Mcoy’s CRACKBACK surprised me with the struggles of a young mans relationship with his new football coach , “ good friends “, and father .I find this book very interesting because of young men that are dealing real life struggles in trying to be the best in football , school , home , and staying out of peer pressures way .
The story very little points it wants the readers to understand but one message the author was trying to get was peer pressure and how it affect the relationships you hav...more John Mcoy’s CRACKBACK surprised me with the struggles of a young mans relationship with his new football coach , “ good friends “, and father .I find this book very interesting because of young men that are dealing real life struggles in trying to be the best in football , school , home , and staying out of peer pressures way .
The story very little points it wants the readers to understand but one message the author was trying to get was peer pressure and how it affect the relationships you have with family , friends , coaches , and other peers . What I didn’t like about the authors writing was that he didn’t make his points that he was trying to get across clear and understandable. what I did like is that he included the thoughts of the main character and what he wads thinking in certain obstacles life threw at him . I also love the way the author paints a good image as to where certain situations occurred. I thought the author’s technique of writing was very unique because he wrote it in 1st person point of view.
The main character in the story is a young man in high school. The writer makes e believe in the character(s) as real people because of how the story is about the reality of high school and teenagers daily life struggles . for example the main character talks about how he had to think twice about his actions before they ruin his future .
The settings in this story compare to any other regular high school or activities teenagers love to do outside of school. The author makes people feel part of the setting because of how he paints images of high school looking great but seeing the struggles that come with it and how saying no to a friend could maybe seem like the end of the world but ends up opening a new door to something better.
The plot of the book is “ struggling with adults who demand , but don’t always deserve respect “ and trying to become what everyone else want him to become a bigger, faster , stronger in football.
The main focus of this book is on the amount of pressure on high school football players .this book somewhat connects with me on a personal because of the peer pressure in making wrong choices. I’d recommend this book to sport lovers .

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Jan 29, 2012 Riss Williams rated it 4 of 5 stars

A boy Miles is excited about his junior-year football season. He knows the sport very well and plays defense. He loves the game. Miles' father is very intense when it come to him playing football. He's taught Miles the basic skills how to play smart and to respect the coach. When the regular coach steps aside inexperienced Coach Stahl takes over and Miles has to consider carefully how important the sport is to him and how much he wants to risk. The coach doesn't really know what he is doing. Th...more

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Oct 19, 2011 02evann rated it 3 of 5 stars

Crackback Review
The book Crackback is a story about a kid, Miles Manning, who plays football in high school and learns more about life. When he is in the prime of his high school football career the team takes a bad turn. The coach gets cancer and the ignorant assistant coach takes over and cuts Miles. Miles then gets invited to take steroids with his friend Zach. He declines that and Zach and Miles stop being good friends. During the season he meets a girl named Lucia, who he really starts to...more

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Apr 29, 2010 Payton rated it 4 of 5 stars

Miles is excited about his junior-year football season. He knows the sport, loves playing defense and even though his father can be overbearing, he's taught Miles basic skills and how to play smart and to respect the coach. Zach, who is been Miles's best friend and teammate, is transforming himself, now. He's not just bulking up, but passing out uppers and advocating shooting up steroids as something all players do. When the regular coach steps aside, belligerent inexperienced Coach Stahl takes...more

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Feb 25, 2010 Lynn rated it 1 of 5 stars

My grade 8 class was assigned to read Crackback for our literature circles. And let me just say, that this book is literally the worst book I have ever read. No joke. I have read so many books and this one is absolutely without a doubt the worst. When I was reading this I felt like throwing it against the wall. It was a total waste of time.

It's a superficial story about a highschool football player called Miles Manning. He has problems with peer pressure, body image and girls... just like a typi...more

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Nov 09, 2012 Tyler W rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Crackback by John Coy is a story of a junior in high school named Miles Manning, who was starting his second year of Varsity football. Miles and his best friend, Zack, were the starting corners on the team. Zack has always been better looking, bigger, and smoother with the ladies compared to Miles. Miles' team was very good and they were favored to win the championship that year. The season started off good for the team, but something quickly happened and the season took a turn for the worse...more

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Oct 17, 2012 Dylan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dylan Nichols The book Crackback by John Coy is about a high school football team who has the potential to win state. The coaches push the players really hard at practice and in the weight room. The main character, Miles Manning, faces a couple of tough choices like choosing a girl for homecoming and taking steroids with his best friend ever since he was a little kid. When he didn’t get his lucky number he knew football wouldn’t be the same this year. It all started when the head coach resigns a...more
Dylan Nichols The book Crackback by John Coy is about a high school football team who has the potential to win state. The coaches push the players really hard at practice and in the weight room. The main character, Miles Manning, faces a couple of tough choices like choosing a girl for homecoming and taking steroids with his best friend ever since he was a little kid. When he didn’t get his lucky number he knew football wouldn’t be the same this year. It all started when the head coach resigns and hands his job over to his least favorite coach on the team. Then he gets his starting position taken away when he makes a terrible mistake in one of the biggest games of their season. He will do whatever it takes to get the girl of his dreams and his starting spot back on the team. He finally proves that he can play football on the varsity squad and he ruins his chance again. This time the coach isn’t giving him another chance, but the girl of his dreams might. He gets to take her out on a date then they started hanging out more. He starts dating her and he says that she is the only good thing about his junior year.

The team starts off good. They win a couple of games in a row then the season starts falling apart. The big game finally comes up to decide their fate, whether they move on to the playoffs or go home and wait until next season. The defense holds up great and brings them back to tie it up. Then on the next play Miles Manning gets caught in the offense’s trap and costs them the game and ruined his whole season. In the locker room after the game the coach nagged at Miles. “When you are thinking and adjusting to the other team, you are an offensive player. When you don’t think and just react, you are a defensive player. And tonight our defense didn’t react, they were thinking,” coach Stahl said.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes sports. It is an awesome, exciting book that makes you never want to ever stop reading. It has parts where he is happy and excited to go play like when his best friend gives him an energy pill that gets you hyped up before the game, then he has moments where he doesn’t even want to play football, like when he got moved to junior varsity and had to sit and watch varsity play.
When he doesn’t want to talk about football he is out with friends and chasing girls like any regular teenage boy, like when he went out with his friends and played tricks on people at the park and when he does want to play he is out smashing the quarterback or blocking the kick on a risky blitz that could have cost them the game.
This is a really good book and I’m telling you that if you like excitement you should read it too.

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Nov 08, 2011 Alex rated it 4 of 5 stars

The book “crackback” by John Coy is a book I enjoyed very much because it teaches the reader an important lesson about living under the influence. A quote that shows this is, “Zack puts the capsules in his mouth, takes a swig of water and passes the water to me. I roll mine in my palm. ‘Just caffeine, like drinking red bull.’ I [pop them in my mouth, gulp some water and swallow. (P.55)In this book, Miles, the main character starts off with just caffeine pills but he doesn’t stay there for long....more

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Mar 23, 2010 Isiah Nunez added it

Crackback by John Coy was a great book about a boy named Miles who was a star on his high school football team. He was the best starter and his coach loved him, that is until a new coach stepped. He became a second string player and couldn't start unless he gained some weight and started lifting weights to get big. While he struggled with his new coach his best friend started doing steroids to get that extra edge. Now Manning had to decide whether to do steroids to start or just sit on the benc...more

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Jan 18, 2010 Gabriel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: school-09-10

Crackback is a story about a young football player named Miles Manning. He plays for a high school named Confluence. He is not that smart and not that good looking but he can play football very well. Miles has trouble from his father and his coach. He talks back when he wants too and they don't want to hear it.

A text to world connection would be that in the real world several coaches have been unfair to players. Coaches have been unfair to MIles because he has opinions. This is frustrating. It...more

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Feb 18, 2011 Tony Wu added it

The book ending different with box out by John coy and it’s about basketball. I really enjoy readying how John style writing sport books. This book Crackback I like the ending, how John make you want to wait the next Crackback 2. Manning was an effect character in the book, he had much difficult issue on his way of and I felt it. If I was him, I would probably quit the football team early that his coach kicked him out right now. Because his news coach arrives, he really don’t like Manning and bu...more

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Mar 18, 2013 Faithe rated it 4 of 5 stars

Crackback
This book was an okay book i thought is was going to be about a team that went all the way but it wasn't it was about a coach that had cancer and most of the kids on the team were injured with broken legs and so this year football team wasn't good the coach wasn't able to be at all the practices and all the games and so the coach had to pick somebody that would be there coach and the guy he picked his team didn't like. Miles is the main character in this book and he has some hard cho...more

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Apr 07, 2013 Stevecrandell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: grades-9-and-up, sports

This book reminds me of Chris Crutcher. So many mini-tragedies piling on top of each other, forever threatening to smother any less angst-ridden elements. Steroids, divorce, gay-bashing, even Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. There’s a good-coach bad-coach drama, a dad who’s wound way too tight, and the teacher with life lessons; all swirling around a sensitive-tough teen narrator who’s anxious and funny and sports-mad and girl-crazy.

Just like Crutcher’s best, the package holds itself together, and...more

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May 09, 2011 Jodi rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was recently in a phase where I wanted to read a lot of sports fiction. Crackback was a past Nutmeg nominee that seemed to be pretty popular with the teens this summer. I have to say, I was not disappointed. I found Crackback to be fast paced and interesting enough to hold my attention throughout the duration.
Miles was a very realistic and sympathetic character. You really do feel badly for the myriad of ways that he gets jerked around - whether it is by his family, teammates, or coaches.
The...more

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Dec 14, 2011 07JefferyF Ferreira rated it 4 of 5 stars

The book Crackback is about a Kid named Miles Manning; he is a junior in high school that isn't the brightest or handsomest kid. Miles and his best freind Zack are the youngest players on the football team that is rank 3rd in state, and they hope to com-peat for the title. He faces many deli-mas with his new coach, and some of his teammates are trying to pressure him into performance enhancing drugs. He also struggles with his home life and the connection he has with his father that he just want...more

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Jun 10, 2011 Hunter rated it 4 of 5 stars

the reason i rated this book the way i did is because i like football and it sounded intresting to me. the book was an easy read i finished it in approximatley two weeks and i got a 10 out of 10 on the ar test. if you think this book will just about football like i did at first your wrong in this kind of harsh book the main man gets into a fight always gets talked bad to buy his dad and gets hurt at work. but i think the ending could of been a little better than it was, like extending it till he...more

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May 01, 2013 Cole Manning rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed reading Crackback. One reason I liked the book is because it reminds me of games I have played in. Another reason is because Miles last name is Manning, like mine. Miles is a Junior in high school and has been on the varsity team as a starter since his Sophomore year. When he finds out his favorite coach has cancer, his season goes down hill from there.

For some reason, Coach Stahl doesn't like Miles. Sure, he makes come comments he shouldn't but it doesn't mean he isn't good at his pos...more

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Oct 11, 2012 Jabari 711 rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 7th-grade-shelf

This book was great. It had all the genres I liked, fiction, sports, and social issues. In this book a boy named Miles Manning has to face very real issues that teenagers have to face. Since he plays football he has to deal with constant presence of steroids and adrenaline boosters. he also has to deal with issues of girls, school and family.
At school the Prom was coming up and Miles hadn't anyone. So he asked a girl named Kyra who turned him down for the quarter back. Another why Miles has a lo...more

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Nov 09, 2011 Jerryd rated it 5 of 5 stars

I would recommend this book "Crackback" by John Coy to my friends because we love to play football. If I recommed this book to my friend we can relate to it. First our coach wants us to win. Also he pushes us in practice. And tells the whole team we are the best and we can do it. Second my friend and I don't like to read. But I think this book might be the one they read and like. Also I know that they are going to like it because it's football. And football is our favorite sport. Third it's a bo...more

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Nov 18, 2011 Andre added it

I highly recomend this book for kids that are mature enough to handle vulgar words and sexual scenes. This book also show a little bit about a teen age life. If your the type of kid that really enjoys reading book about sports then this book is for you. This book is full of descriptions on and off the feild. Although this book has graphic scenes it is still a good book. I liked this book because it was mostly about football. If i had to describe this book i would describe it as an exciting page...more

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Jan 19, 2013 Angela rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2007-2010

Miles Manning is talented at football, but doesn’t have the size. He compensates by playing a smart game as opposed to a brute-force game. When his coach starts pressuring Miles and his tammates to gain size, stressing weight training and muscles, Miles finds it difficult to adjust. On top of that, his father, who played football in college, insists that Miles just respect the coach. In order to maintain their starting positions in the wake of this new policy, some of the players are turning to...more

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Oct 03, 2012 Jake rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is written for guys who are interested in football. In this book the main character Miles goes through alot or trials. When some of Miles friends start to take steroids Miles dosent know what to do. When he gets kicked off of firsst string on the team he thinks that if he had taken the steroids then maybe he would have still been starting. I can relate to Miles in this situation because i have been the starting corner in football my entire life and then out of know where I was sitting...more

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Nov 09, 2011 Carnell L rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is a good book because it's about a brief coach that has kids that are bad and he doesn't know that they are bad teenagers.This coach loves football a lot so he wants his team to make it all the way to the championship.The coach's kids are all on steroids and he doesn't know that either because it's a really bad thing.What i don't like about this book is there is a lot of drama,horror,and fighting.What i like about this book is the coach is a really good and faithful coach.I recommend...more

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Oct 08, 2010 Jayden Philips rated it 5 of 5 stars

The main characters name is miles, and miles plays football. Miles, Lucia, Zach, and Sam are the man characters. The plot was for their team to go to state. I would compare this book to Gym Candy because it is also about high school football.

I liked that the book was about football. I disliked the steroids part because they are not good for you. You need to be in a competitive mood to read this book. This book would be better if it was longer because I didn’t want it to end.

While reading this...more

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About John Coy

John Coy is an award-winning author, who worked as a dishwasher, mattress maker, group home worker, and tour guide before taking up writing. He's active in sports and is a member of the NBA Reading All-Star Team as part of the Read to Achieve program. John has traveled to all fifty states as well as to many countries internationally.

His work includes Night Driving, a Marion Vannett Ridgway Memori...more

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