POP [Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged] [MP3 CD]

I started reading this book one night and two hours later and way past midnight I was still turning pages. What may be even more unusual about that is that I am hardly Gordon Korman's target audience. I'm a middle-aged woman, albeit a football fan. Marcus and Charlie are great characters. You can feel Marcus's anguish at being the new kid in town, school, and team. You get a sense of Charlie trying to hang on to the last shreds of himself. For adults, the story may be a bit precious in places. All the pieces fit together a little too neatly, and we're never in doubt that in the end there will be a big game and it will be up to Marcus to win it. That's hardly a spoiler, but there's a lot more to the ending and it's a surprise. Young teen boys should really enjoy this story. It would be great for slightly younger kids too, but there is some kissing and sexual innuendo.

POP as a title contains a double meaning -- one, it is the nickname of Charlie Popovich, an ex-NFL star suffering from Alzheimer's, and two, it is the sound you get when you slam your helmet into someone in football. It comes as no surprise, but "Pop" likes to pop people, and our protagonist, Marcus Jordan, finds out the hard way when he meets the 50-something Charlie at the public park one day while tossing around a football. The unlikely meeting leads to regular practice between the old-timer and the youngster, who is new to town and anxious to try out for the undefeated high school team.

With plenty of football action, this book will appeal to reluctant readers as well as sports fans, but it also takes a social angle as Marcus learns that the high school quarterback whose job he covets is the son of Charlie and none too pleased that Marcus is a) angling for his starting QB job, and b) practicing football with his legendary dad at the park. What's worse, both Troy and his sister Chelsea are bent on keeping Charlie's condition -- Alzheimer's as a result of multiple concussions during his NFL career -- a secret. Want more for the mix? How about Alyssa, head cheerleader and looker who on-again/off-again dates Troy, taking up an interest in Marcus?

Veteran YA author Gordon Korman pulls all the levers in this book to maximize the entertainment value. There's some suspense, some humor, and some learning about an important disease neatly brought together in one package here. My one reservation is a common one in the YA field -- the lack of reality in some of the situations and events. The more important point, however, is that this book is compelling and equal parts sports, humor, and social drama -- a potent combination. Recommended.

Gold Star Award Winner!

If I was asked to write a one word review for POP by Gordon Korman, I would write - Fantastic! Once readers start passing this one around, it may never touch a bookshelf again.

Quarterback want-to-be Marcus Jordan is packed up and moved to the mountains of New York state by his divorced mother. It's no big loss in the dad department considering he refers to his father as Comrade Stalin. He knows he and his mother are better off out of Kansas and on their own, but it's the summer before his junior year, and his dream of playing varsity quarterback may not survive the move.

With no friends yet to occupy his time and definitely no fellow football companions to work out with, Marcus heads to the local city park to create his own workout. He is attempting some passing practice when a burly, middle-aged guy shows up and sprints into the park and picks off one of his passes. Before he knows it, the guy is putting him through his paces. They are passing the ball like crazy and then running patterns and hitting each other like it's the biggest game of the season. And then the guy is gone.

Marcus learns the man's name is Charlie. Without any regular schedule or plan, they start working out together in the park. Charlie just sort of shows up - maybe one day, but not the next, and rarely ever at the same time. Even with crazy and unreliable appearances, the time Marcus spends with Charlie is really improving his game.

Whenever Marcus tries to find out exactly who Charlie is, he runs into a roadblock. Their time together is basically all about football - until the day a wild pass ends up crashing through the side window of a car parked along the street. Charlie disappears faster than Marcus believed possible, leaving him to write a note to the car owner promising to pay the repair bill. After that more strange things begin to happen. Marcus notices that when he and Charlie leave the park to grab a Gatorade or a bag of ice to ice down an injury, Charlie simply grabs what they need from a local store and leaves without paying a cent. Weird... but the weirdness is outweighed by the fantastic football knowledge Marcus is gaining from this awesome athlete.

As school starts that fall, Marcus finds it difficult to fit into the already stacked football roster. The team has a super reputation and is heading into a second undefeated season. There seems to be no hope that he will play quarterback. In his attempt to make friends and fit in with the team, Marcus learns that Charlie is the father of the team's star quarterback. It makes sense that such a great player would have a talented son, but Marcus also discovers that there is some sort of family secret and Charlie seems to be at the center of it.

Gordon Korman is at his best in POP. He has wrapped a tremendous amount into this fast-paced novel. In addition to football action, readers will experience Marcus's "new guy" frustration, emotions twisted by his parents' divorce, and the discovery of a horribly debilitating disease. Readers will find it difficult to stop reading once they have met Marcus and Charlie.

Run, don't walk, to the nearest library or bookstore to get a copy of POP.

Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"

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