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Crackback | 
 enlarge | Author: John Coy
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $6.99
Buy New: $3.27
You Save: $3.72 (53%)
New (30) Used (5) from $3.27
Avg. Customer Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 51133
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.9 x 0.6
ISBN: 0439697344
EAN: 9780439697347
ASIN: 0439697344
Publication Date: September 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: GREAT BUY!Brand New From US Distributor! WE ARE A 5 STAR SELLER with OVER 3,500,000 BOOKS SOLD!!! OVER ~ 600,000 FEEDBACKS ~ POSTED!!!
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
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: Is he willing to do what it takes to win? Football is his life, and his family, especially his dad, is pinning its hopes on him. It's a lot of pressure for a high school junior to bear. This gripping look into the world of high school boys and athletes--and their struggle to be the best--is provocative and searingly honest.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 Crackback May 15, 2008
Do you like books about football, family problems, or steroids? If you answered yes to this question then Crackback is the perfect book for you. Miles Manning plays football for his highschool team. He appears to be just a regular guy. He doesn't live a regular life though. His parents are always fighting and have kept an important secret from him. To make matters worse his best friend is using steroids and they are not as close as they have been, and the girl that he likes disappoints him. Mile's gets a new football coach who dislikes him and disapproves of his play. His dad, who is supposed to be supportive only makes him feel worse. Found out how Miles overcomes all of theses obstacles and finds out the secret that his parents have been keeping from him. This book was a good one because it kept my attention, was the perfect highschool football player story and it had a good lesson. John Coy hooked me with his cliffhanger chapter endings. There is a surprise around every corner. This book will keep all highschool sports players and fans wanting more. I would say that this is a guy's book but girls will also enjoy it. In conclusion Crackback was a very hard book to put down and is the perfect story about Miles and his not so perfect life.
Josh Wenger
 John Coy Shows Promise July 15, 2007
As a debut YA effort, I can't fault John Coy's CRACKBACK for trying. In fact, it shows hints of bigger things to come, but ultimately I think this novel will please most its niche audience only -- middle school-aged boys who love football. I plan to offer it to my students who claim they don't read because reading's too boring because I think this will be of interest to them if they love playing football.
Many other young readers will be disappointed or ambivalent about this book, however, as I was. Most notable to me was the overabundance of short, simple sentences in rather large font. They actually slowed me down because I wasn't able to get into any reading rhythm due to the "staccato-like" diction. My advice to Coy would be to mix it up with some longer sentences and paragraphs now and then.
I also thought the characterizations of both the protagonist's (Miles Manning's) father and one of his coaches (Coach Stahl) were too similar and too much like cardboard cutouts of creeps. There was an attempt at the end to salvage the father, but it just didn't go over so well. The good coach (Coach Sepolski), good teacher (Mr. Halloran), good little sister (Martha) and good mother (Mom) all had small roles here, so they didn't help to distract me from the Tweedledee and Tweedledum aspects of Dad and Stahl.
The same is true for the other football players on the team -- minor roles, overall. A field goal for Coy on his knowledge of football, however. It does come across as realistic because he knows his sport. One plot development -- the issue of steroid use -- kind of fizzled after showing promise early on. Ditto the plot points surrounding evil Coach Stahl. The end on that count is as unrewarding as a tie game after overtime.
What I liked best was Miles' point of view. I enjoyed some of his "quirky" thoughts about girls, adult hypocrisy, school, gays, and the importance (or nonimportance) of winning. Miles is not a stereotype like Dad or Coach Stahl, and readers will appreciate him as a real person with genuine thoughts and problems.
Coy, already famous as a picture book author for young children, is entering the YA field for the first time with this novel. I think he shows promise and, if I were a scout at the game, I'd put a check near his name to keep an eye on future works. If you have a kid who loves football (or if you ARE a kid who loves football), buy it and enjoy it. Otherwise it might be like paying a lot of money to watch the Arizona Cardinals play "NFL" football -- a tad disappointing.
 crackback. Must Read!!!!!!!! June 13, 2007
Coy, John, Crackback, New York NY: Scholastic Inc., 2005.
Pages 204
How does pressure from the coaches, news, parents, and fans affect a high school student who plays sports?
This book is about a kid name Miles Manning who is a starter at Wide Receiver for his varsity football team at 5'11'' and 155 pounds. He doesn't lift weights over the summer like rest of the guys, so he is weaker. The coaches are pushing him to work harder and listen to the coaches, but they still say that he catches the ball wrong. His friend offered him 2 pills that help him have an edge over everyone else and his friend says they're like a jolt of caffeine. Then later on his friends offered him some other pills to take. Miles does some research and finds out they are steroids.
His friends keep pushing him to take the pills so he can be bigger and stronger. His friends are getting bigger and bigger everyday, but the coach doesn't know they are taking steroids. The coach wants him to be big and strong like his teammates. He has a big choice to make taking the drugs and getting bigger plus hurting his body slowly or take the long way and keep his career.
My favorite part of the book is his final game because it's so intense and there's tons of action going on really fast. It feels like you are there watching them play out on the field and sometimes you feel like one of the players.
Overall I liked this book. The author, John Coy writes this book so you can't put it down. When you read it it's like watching a movie and sometimes you feel like you are there. Everyone should read this book. You get to see high school life, sports, girls, drugs, parties, and tons of other things in a high school student's life. This book is realistic fiction.
By Kyle Struiksma
Read It!!!!!!!! May 19, 2007
Stunning, thrilling, fascinating, phenomenal, sports, one book you don't want to put down. Crackback. What does this mean. What kind of title is this? Think about football for one moment. Plays. Tackling. Running routes. Well the title of this book means/One play so well designed that it will crush your football dreams forever.
If you are in high school and play football then you will enjoy reading this book. As an18-year-old senior in high school, Miles Manning overcomes hell. He goes through peer pressure, overcomes fights, and still manages to do good in school. Have you ever played football? Have you ever been burned in football on a play that the other team scores on every time? If the whole team was counting on you and you were so nervous that you have no time to respond, and then BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM you are the first person to stop that play. What would you feel? What would you do?
Now one screw up and back at the bottom you are. This is a book that goes up to the climax and down to the bottom of boredom. There are lots of off your seat times in this book that will surprise you. This is a great book for those football players out there. This book is a great source to good football and to having fun doing it.
crackback May 16, 2007
The book crackback has a realistic genre. It was written by John Coy. Also it was illustated by Marijka Kostiw. You got to give them both credit for this book. Because this book is an exciting novel that keeps you focused throughout the time you read. It's a high school and sports book. So if you like sports you will love this book. The sport they are playing in this book is football. High school football is one of the best times for football. The story is revolved around a young tennager fighting for a spot on the varsity fooball team for his school. The coach got sick and a new coach came in and made his life and tough one. The coach did not like the player, and it was a hard ride thoughout the year for the player. If I was looking at this book and I was deciding if i was going to read it or not. Since I have read it I would choose to read it again. I would recomened this book to anyone that love sports and who is addicted to it and remembers high school to read this book.
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