It's time to celebrate another book birthday! Today's read is the fifth in a series, and I've read a couple of the other books before, but not the entire series. These can be read well as individual reads, since each book centers around a different character. However, there are mentions of other events, so they do hang together enough to read as a series as well. If I remember right. Truthfully, it's been a bit about six years since I read one
COACH
About Time...
Track #5
by Jason Reynolds
Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Middle Grade Sports Fiction
256 pages
In this companion to Jason Reynolds’s award-winning and New York Times bestselling Track series, meet Coach as a boy striving to come into his own as a track star while facing upheaval at home.
Before Coach was the man who gave caring yet firm-handed guidance to Ghost, Lu, Patina, and Sunny on the Defenders track team, he was little Otie Brody, who was obsessed with Mr. 9.99 (a.k.a. Carl Lewis) and Marty McFly from Back to the Future. Like Mr. 9.99—and his own dad—Otie is a sprinter. Sprint free or die is practically his motto.
Then his dad, who is always away on business trips, comes home with a pair of Jordans. JORDANS. Fine as fine can be. Otie puts them on and feels like he can leap to the moon…maybe even leap like Mr. 9.99 when he won the Olympic gold medal in the long jump. But one morning he wakes up to find his brand-new secret weapon kicks are missing—right off his feet! And Otie just might have a fuzzy memory of his dad easing them off as Otie was sleeping, but that can’t be right, can it?
Unless all the reasons for his dad’s “gone’s” are very different from what he’s been told… Because now, not only are the Jordans missing, but so is his father.
Before Coach was the man who gave caring yet firm-handed guidance to Ghost, Lu, Patina, and Sunny on the Defenders track team, he was little Otie Brody, who was obsessed with Mr. 9.99 (a.k.a. Carl Lewis) and Marty McFly from Back to the Future. Like Mr. 9.99—and his own dad—Otie is a sprinter. Sprint free or die is practically his motto.
Then his dad, who is always away on business trips, comes home with a pair of Jordans. JORDANS. Fine as fine can be. Otie puts them on and feels like he can leap to the moon…maybe even leap like Mr. 9.99 when he won the Olympic gold medal in the long jump. But one morning he wakes up to find his brand-new secret weapon kicks are missing—right off his feet! And Otie just might have a fuzzy memory of his dad easing them off as Otie was sleeping, but that can’t be right, can it?
Unless all the reasons for his dad’s “gone’s” are very different from what he’s been told… Because now, not only are the Jordans missing, but so is his father.
MY TIDBITS
Otie's having a hard time. Not only is his father rarely at home thanks to his job, but one of the kids at school has just made fun of Otie during the lunch talent show and had the entire school laughing at him and his hair. Since Otie's father never seems to have enough time to take him to the barber shop, he decides to tackle the job himself and ends up bald. But that works, since he's on the track team and can claim he's trying to improve his running time by being more aerodynamic. After all, he's a great runner and has dreams of making the Junior Olympic team. When his father returns from the latest business trip with a pair of Air Jordon's in hand, Otie's over the moon. Unfortunately, his mother's fears that they might be stolen are dampening his fun with the amazing shoes. Plus, other oddities are beginning to make Otie wonder if his father got them through questionable means...or maybe, even his job isn't all that it seems. Add the pressures of track and school, and Otie's got a lot to maneuver.
Like the other books in the series, the author hits Otie and his life with natural finesse. Every moment comes across smoothly and lets the reader feel as if they're stepping right into the character's world. The problems Otie faces come across with familiarity and draw sympathy, and his reactions are very understandable...even when he makes mistakes. His family is supportive and loving, but they aren't perfect. Even his school life and friendships are packed with ups and downs. Some themes are a bit more difficult and are brought across with the rawness needed to make the sit. So, it's a well-rounded read with a lot to offer.
It's no problem to sink right into the scenes and enjoy following Otie, family, and friends. It was nice to see the series now shifting to the Coach of the team, and the backstory gives his character quite a bit more understanding and depth. It did take a minute to realize that, unlike the other books, this one jumps back to the late 1980's to visit the Coach in his early teenage years. A quick mention of this would have been helpful in the beginning. But that said, it's an enjoyable read which hits home and provokes thought. Plus, the sport aspect always adds a nice twist.
And here he is...
Jason Reynolds is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, recipient of the MacArthur Genius Grant, a Newbery Award Honoree, a Printz Award Honoree, a two-time National Book Award finalist, a 2024 MacArthur Fellow, a Kirkus Award winner, a UK Carnegie Medal winner, a two-time Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award Winner, an Odyssey Award Winner and two-time honoree, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors, a Coretta Scott King Author Award, and the Margaret A. Edwards Award. He was also the 2020–2022 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. His many books include All American Boys (cowritten with Brendan Kiely); When I Was the Greatest; The Boy in the Black Suit; Stamped; As Brave as You; For Every One; the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, Lu, and Coach); Look Both Ways; Stuntboy, in the Meantime; Stuntboy, In-Between Time; Miles Morales Suspended; Ain’t Burned All the Bright (recipient of the Caldecott Honor) and My Name Is Jason. Mine Too. (both cowritten with Jason Griffin); Twenty-Four Seconds from Now...; and Long Way Down, which received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and a Coretta Scott King Honor. His debut picture book, There Was a Party for Langston, won a Caldecott Honor and a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor. He lives in Washington, DC. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com.
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