If you don-t have a slot what are we going to do with you?
It-s called Twenty-One Nights with the Knights. But for Elvin Bishop--fourteen overweight and a self-proclaimed nonathlete--this summer sports retreat is more like the twenty-one trials of hell.
As everyone around him including his best friends slips smoothly into athletic slots Elvin is pounded on the football field slammed on the baseball diamond and tortured on the wrestling mat--always coming out a complete failure. But appearances can be deceiving. Sometimes real strength comes from breaking the rules rather than playing the game. And sometimes finding acceptance is less about fitting in than about making your own way--with grit and humor.
All incoming freshmen at Flagship Academy’s summer program are suppose to find an athletic ‘slot’ for themselves. But there is no slot for Elvin a wise-cracking overweight sports incompetent who bounces from one humiliating game to another. How he discovers his own place for himself—with grit and humor—makes for a funny poignant coming-of-age story...[A] wry thoughtful book [that] speaks with wisdom and heart to the victim and outsider in us all.—BL.
1996 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)
1996 Best Books for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (ALA)
Books for Youth Editors- Choices 1995 (BL)
1996 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
Young Adult Choices for 1997 (IRA/CBC)
If you don-t have a slot what are we going to do with you?
It-s called Twenty-One Nights with the Knights. But for Elvin Bishop--fourteen overweight and a self-proclaimed nonathlete--this summer sports retreat is more like the twenty-one trials of hell.
As everyone around him including his best friends slips smoothly into athletic slots Elvin is pounded on the football field slammed on the baseball diamond and tortured on the wrestling mat--always coming out a complete failure. But appearances can be deceiving. Sometimes real strength comes from breaking the rules rather than playing the game. And sometimes finding acceptance is less about fitting in than about making your own way--with grit and humor.
All incoming freshmen at Flagship Academy’s summer program are suppose to find an athletic ‘slot’ for themselves. But there is no slot for Elvin a wise-cracking overweight sports incompetent who bounces from one humiliating game to another. How he discovers his own place for himself—with grit and humor—makes for a funny poignant coming-of-age story...[A] wry thoughtful book [that] speaks with wisdom and heart to the victim and outsider in us all.—BL.
1996 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)
1996 Best Books for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (ALA)
Books for Youth Editors- Choices 1995 (BL)
1996 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
Young Adult Choices for 1997 (IRA/CBC)
