Touchdown Trouble by Fred Bowen

Sam is excited when his football team, the Cowboys, beat their rivals, the Giants, with his last second touchdown, and are the only undefeated team in their league. When the whole team gets together at Sam's house for a celebratory viewing of the game on video, they discover that the touchdown shouldn't have counted. Now, they will have to decide whether or not to inform the league, the other team, and their coach about their discovery.


I love watching football, but I rarely read books about football. I think it's because the descriptions don't tell me enough to visualize the play most of the time. Or, maybe, I just don't want to read a play-by-play transcript of a game. What I like about Touchdown Trouble is how the story really isn't the game itself, but what happens at the game to affect all of the players afterwards. It's nice to have a story where the characters are faced with an ethical dilemma, but I wish that the outcome wasn't so clear from the onset. I wanted to be left in suspense a bit on what decision the boys would make, rather than know even before I got there how the vote would end.


Yes, it's a bit predictable, but I still think fans of sports books will love to read. It's probably best suited for 5th-6th graders at the oldest, although some slightly older may want to read. I give it a 'C' rating.