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Randy is a chubby ninth grader with a Cub Scout hair cut who guesses M&M colors with his eyes closed and makes up words. He’s also a chess whiz who has defeated his older brother Zeke in nine of their last ten matches. Zeke is a high school senior, a soccer champ, and a chess natural who can beat just about anyone if he decides to really concentrate. So why is his loser little brother the better athlete, the better chess player, and the first to have a girlfriend? The competition heightens when both Randy and Zeke qualify for the Northeast Regional of the Pennsylvania High School Chess Championships (Randy is seeded, Zeke is not)–and play their way right into a brother-tobrother final round. Told in alternating points of view between brothers, Rich Wallace’s new novel brings to life one of America’s favorite pastimes in a suspenseful story about competition and family loyalty. Rich Wallace is the author of several books for young adults, including One Good Punch, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults; and Wrestling Sturbridge, an ALA Quick Pick. He lives in Pennsylvania.

In his novels Wrestling Sturbridge, Shots on Goal, and The Roar of the Crowd, young adult author Rich Wallace has used “the metaphors of sports to explore universal themes of emerging adulthood and self-definition,” according to Horn Book reviewer Maeve Visser Knoth. “Like other good writers,” stated Ken Donelson in the St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers, “Wallace recognizes the importance of telling a story that involves readers—mostly boys, but also girls and women—who recognize that the book is about sports and much, much more.”

Wallace was born January 29, 1957, in Hackensack, New Jersey. Raised by his college-educated parents along with six brothers and sisters, he began writing as a first grader. But academics were not Wallace’s strong suit. He found school to be dull, and he did not read much beyond what was required for his classes from sixth grade until after college. As a teenager, he was primarily interested in sports, especially track and cross country.

In high school, however, Wallace began writing extensively, keeping a diary in which he poured out his emotions. He also gained valuable experience by working on his school’s newspaper. Wallace’s evolution as a writer continued at New Jersey’s Montclair State College. He took creative writing classes, including one that required him to pen a novel, one chapter per week. He also interned at the Passaic Herald-News, where he was later offered a paid writing and reporting position. Sports once again captured the majority of Wallace’s attention, though. In fact, Wallace left college just two credits short of a degree. A couple of years later, he returned and completed two physical education courses to finish his degree.

“Anyone familiar with this author will find familiar themes in this book—competition, big fish in a little pond, parental conflict. Brothers Zeke and Randy hail from Sturbridge, the small town in which Wallace sets his stories. They are chess players, good enough to make the regional tournament, but there the similarities end. Zeke is an athlete, raised by his father to think he is special. Much like his father, however, he is not that special outside of Sturbridge town limits. Randy has given up sports, and he finds Zeke and his father’s participation in athletics just a little ridiculous. As brothers they do not get along—they do not like each other, and as the dual narration illustrates, they do not understand each other. Their true feelings and motivations go undiscovered as they try to survive their father’s pressure. The story takes place over twenty-four hours, as the boys move through the chess tournament. Inevitably they find themselves facing off in the semifinals, at which point their father finally pushes past Zeke’s limits, in a move that brings the two boys together. There is no major event on which the plot swings, but instead the book is more character study. Zeke is not a particularly likeable character, but he is hiding more than Randy, making him more complex. The father is nothing more than a stereotypical “stage parent,” but it is not too distracting as his role is to allow the boys to develop. Overall the book is a solid piece of writing from Wallace.”
–VOYA