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Sep 19, 2009

Valerie rated it:

I think this is a really good book. It seems honest and real. All the characters are developed well and Hampton (main character)seems so genuine. Of course, with having a real male character I found out things that I didn't really want to know. Like how horny teenage guys might look at girls but it wasn't too bad, it was mostly just annoying.

Hampton has problems and a lot of them. Family problems (his mom ignores him), girl problems (he likes a girl who is not the football-player's- More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2010

Ash rated it:

I usually don't like reading books with boys being the main characters because, let's be honest, in almost every book I've read where the main character is male there's always mention of boobs and sex. Quite frankly this annoys me, and I find it totally unnecessary. The main character is obviously still a boy but I found that his thoughts on these things were much less frequent and less perverted than in other books that I've read. That's besides the point though. I'm not really a football perso More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Apr 08, 2009

Cara rated it:

This one is going to be a hard one to review because I don't think I can do it justice. There is nothing extraordinary about the book but that is what makes it so great. It is a story about growing up and you do it along with our football hero Hampton. You can't not love him. I mean you can only wish there are guys out there like him.

The relationship he has with his best friend Blaine did give me a lot of insight of why guys do stupid things, even though it may still be wrong at leas More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 15, 2009

Jorge added it

i choose this book because on the cover therre is a picture of a football player, and later on in the book i find out he is a lineback like me but the problems he has off the feild is completly diffrent from mine. his father left him and his crush is the smart girl that a jock like him isnt supposed to associate himself with. other than the subject of football i thouight this book wasnt that great. i dont really recomend this book to people unless they want a book about a teen and his truobles o More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 17, 2009

Heather rated it:

I read this story over the weekend, and I found it to be really good--very Friday Night Lights (and I LOVE Friday Night Lights). Hampton Green, the afore-mentioned star linebacker is a likeable character (if you can get around his bad grammar and southern dialect and affinity for idioms like "He doesn't give a day-old donut" and "Boy Howdy!")

Also, the girls in Hampton's life (the not-so-cut-out-to-be-a-football-player's-girlfriend Sara, and the way-too-typical-foo More...

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Apr 13, 2009

Matt rated it:

Knights of the hill country, by Tim Tharp, is a realistic perspective of the life of most of our modern day teenagers. It tells the story of a high school football player who lives life quietly outside the stadium, but inside it, he takes all the attention. At home, his single mother tries to find herself a new husband by throwing herself at the most wealthy men in a small town, oklahoma landscape. She discovers one man who is true to himself and with others, and decides to settle down, but her More...

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Mar 22, 2009

H rated it:

Hampton has relied on best friend Blaine ever since he moved into town. After all, it was Blaine and his dad who brough Hampton into football, the only place Hamp feels like he understands what is going on. Now it is senior year, the Kennisaw Knights are looking to finish a fifth undefeated season (in a small Oklahoma hill country town where high school football is literally the only game in town) and while Blaine's career is faltering after a devastating knee injury the year before, Hampton h More...

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Jul 13, 2010

Dan rated it:

Friendships are the hardest thing about life. If they are true friendships they always take work and rarely come easy. Hampton Green has had his friend Blaine by his side since he moved to Kennisaw in elementary school. Blaine’s dad became a father figure to him when things weren’t great at home, and most of all they were the reason Hampton got into football to begin with. Blaine is a big headed cocky running back and Hampton is the beastie coolheaded middle linebacker and this is reflected in t More...

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Jan 25, 2010

Jaylen rated it:

This was a five-star book. This book is about football and relationships. The Kennisaw Knights are a legendary football team. The team Hampton Green plays for is going for their fifth straight undefeated season. A team back in the 70's did this, with legendary QB T. Roy Strong. Hampton Green's best friend is a guy by the name of Blaine Keller. As best friends do, they've had a couple of fights. Blaine and his dad basically taught Hamp all he knows about football. With a chance at getting More...

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Nov 03, 2009

Chad added it

This book was very interesting. I had never read a book like this one before. The character's and the wording were both very unique. i enjoyed reasding this alot.

The story is about a high school football player who is struggling to be the best line backer in the league, and with the fact that his father left him and his mom when he was only a baby. He is popular but not as popular as some of his other team mates. This boy is trying to find out where he belongs on the todem pole of hi More...

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Nov 20, 2011

Katie rated it:

When a book opens with "I done it," I wonder which direction it's going to go. There were too many of the cliches that abound in teen novels: superstar football player with a soft soul decides to finally figure out who he is while his best friend spirals downward due to an injury. While it is not a book I'd recommend to friends, I can see students loving this book.

While some parts were too much and I wanted to laugh, other parts did redeem the book. The main character's More...

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Jan 24, 2011

Sean rated it:

I thought this book was very entertaining about how Tim Tharp(author) understands teenagers lives and is able to write an entire book based around them. This book got me hooked quick because it's about football and also because they were trying to get their fifth straight undefeated season which is hard and takes a lot of time and dedication to prepare for something that big. Hampton Green(main character) is trying to help his team earn that fifth undefeated season along with his best friend B More...

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Dec 04, 2011

Ian rated it:

“I done it. I stopped time.” From the first sentence I was immediately drawn into the story. Knights of the Hill Country by Tim Tharp is a thrilling novel. It’s about a high school football player named Hamp Green who wants nothing more than to play college football at Oklahoma University. But his best friend Blaine is holding him back from making his dreams come true. Blaine has played football his whole life. He’s a good player but he lets his mouth do the talking instead of taking it out on More...

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Dec 22, 2008

Liz rated it:

I started reading this book on the bike at the gym last week, hoping for something that would make the torture go faster. It didn't help the first day or the second day. But the third day I started reading (I was on page 70 by then) and then I looked up and 25 minutes had flown by.

The book's slow start actually set up the book nicely leading to a satisfying, if somewhat predictable, conclusion. The story followed a nice plot line with no big twists or turns.

All in all i More...

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Dec 28, 2008

Melissa rated it:

I started reading this so that I could recommend it to some of my male students. I became agitated by the inconsistencies of the text. The protagonist, Hampton, is a high school football player who grew up being lower middle class in Oklahoma so he speaks without using proper English and comments several times about being a poor student. However, the author has Hampton using powerful metaphors quite often. To me this became to be too much of a fallacy. If the author wanted Hampton to be a stereo More...

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Oct 11, 2011

Joeyr added it

I love this book beacuase it is about a guy named Hampton. Hampton loves football but has lots of problems in his life. Hampton is a middle linebacker and is a good one. Hamptons team is 5-0 and has a big game comeing up, not only is it a big game Hampton is always thinging about his family. He stays with his mom but his mom has a new boyfriend every week and his dad left them when he was young. I like this book cause we play the same position and Hampton and i both have to worry about our grade More...

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Jun 25, 2011

Lynn rated it:

So different than all of the vampire/angel/werewolf books or the spoiled brat city kid dramas out there. I really enjoyed this book.

Hampton Green is the star of his high school football team. Not that Hampton feels like a star or even believes he deserves to be a star. Sure, he's a fantastic linebacker who has garnered the attention of college football scouts. But it's Hampton's best friend, Blaine, who is the real star. Until Blaine injured his knee during a game, he'd been the one More...

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Jul 16, 2009

Abby rated it:

I read Tim Tharp's latest teen book, The Spectacular Now, in the fall and LOVED it. Sadly, this book is no Spectacular Now. It's narrated by Hampton Green, a teenage football player from the Oklahoma hill country, whose life pretty much consists of playing football, riding around his small town with his best friend Blaine, and pining after Sara, a sharp, intelligent girl who doesn't fit into his social circle (football players & cheerleaders). Written in Oklahoma hills dialect, Hampton's voice f More...

3 comments like

Apr 26, 2009

Billie rated it:

This is a great football story, but even more, it is a story of how relationships grow and change. Hampton and Blaine are best friends, play football and hang out together. Hampton tells us the story about how his father leaves the family and shares with us the devestation that resulted. His mom sees many men as a result and he turns to Blaine's family for stability and encouragement.

Blaine is an outstanding football star suffering the consequences of injury. The lack of footbal More...

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Oct 11, 2010

Krista rated it:

Hampton is at a crossroads the start of his senior year: as his high school football career takes off, and his romantic and family life both take turns for the better, his longtime, charismatic best friend Blaine is on a downward trajectory. Used to existing in Blaine's shadow, Hampton begins to question some of the beliefs and behaviors he has tolerated. Hampton is the kind of main character readers root for, an honest, socially awkward young man who cares about his friends and family. Never a More...

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Aug 09, 2008

Marya rated it:

I really dislike football, so when I say that I liked this book, that must mean it did a pretty good job of telling a good story in a well written way. Sure, it spends a LOT of time on football, and sure, the characters in the book think it's the be all end all component of their lives. What makes this book so good is that at least one of the characters realizes that there's a life OUTSIDE high school football, and that the sport and his brief career playing it does not have to completely defi More...

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Aug 02, 2011

Neill rated it:

Hampton Green has operated in the shadow of Blaine Keller since they met in the fourth grade. Now their football team, the Kennisaw Knights, is equaling the fifth undefeated season record set by the town heroes years before and Hampton's ability is beginning to overshadow his cocky best friend's intensity. When things don't go Blaine's way someone has to take the blame.

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Jul 20, 2010

Mrs. Schatz rated it:

Loved this book and want everyone one at my high school to read it and mean everyone!!!! I had to remind myself that is was set in Oklahoma and not at my little high school in rural VA. Hamp's voice was soooo realistic and many students would be able to identify. A definite must-read if you are a teen or work with teens or want to have glimpse into a teen's world.

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Oct 06, 2009

Cheryl rated it:

Not quite as stunning as THE SPECTACULAR NOW, because we are mostly waiting for the narrator to catch up and see what we readers can see from the beginning about his best friend and his own worth. Still, such a pleasure to see good, honest writing from and about the Midwest, and a quality literary rendering of the bludgeonness of football.

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Nov 23, 2008

Seth rated it:

Reading this book I thought it would be about a popular football star. Wrong, even though he is very good at football he is not to smart at his grades. Until he meets a girl that everyone else makes fun of. She and he have a close conection and he learns that books have indexs.

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Sep 23, 2011

Katelyn rated it:

I had to read this book for my adolescent literature class, and I really enjoyed it. I think it would work well for high school teachers to provide for their students. I can think of many people I went to high school with that could have benefited from reading this book.

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Sep 24, 2010

Walker added it

I thought it was a really good book. More people should read this book, only if you like football books. I thought it was pretty bad that they lost a game and haven't lost a game in five seasons, but other than that it was a really good book

1 comment like

Mar 18, 2011

Wayne rated it:

so far this book is getting more and more interesting i can tell you it isn't all about just football; based on what i have read so far this book to me is about how people think of football players and what they see in them.

1 comment like

Jan 27, 2010

Vitor added it

its gud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! More...

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Mar 16, 2011

Goof rated it:

Not as "on the field" action as Gym Candy. Very in-depth off the field. Would not be a good book for a first time guy reader. I liked it though but it did get a too "wordy" sometimes.

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