Athlete vs. Mathlete by W. C. Mack (review)

Fraternal twins Owen and Russell have coexisted in a state of general amity, with basketball star Owen staking his ground as the family jock and Russell holding forth as the acknowledged brainiac. This year, though, the new basketball coach throws everything off balance by insisting that all former players try out again for the seventh-grade team and recruiting tall, lanky, uncoordinated Russell to try out as well. Russell would rather put his energy into the Masters of the Mind team egg-drop competition, but he’s good-natured enough to comply with the coach, certain a tryout will promptly prove his ineptitude. It turns out Russell’s got some decent blocking skill and a natural jump shot—and now a spot with Owen on the team. The brothers take turns at narration, with Owen airing first his pride and then his outrage over Russell’s theft of the limelight, while Russell frets over his dereliction of team leadership duties at MotM, even as he revels in shedding his reputation as a nerd. Mack evokes empathy for each boy, with honest attention to the fact that Russell can steal Owen’s thunder as a player, but Owen will never match Russell at academics. The middle-school dynamics are too innocent and polished to be completely credible, however, and the supporting cast of friends and parents step straight out of an afterschool special. This could nonetheless be a good choice for younger kids who haven’t personally gnashed on the grit of middle school and still have reason to hope that family and school problems can be reconciled in a few hundred pages.