Forward Pass

by Thomas J. Dygard

Book Overview

To improve his struggling football team's chances of winning, Coach Gardner brings in a new wide receiver, Jill Winston. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140345620
• ISBN13: 9780140345629
• Release Date: October 1990
• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 4.2" x 7.1"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

A Female Football Star

The Panthers have the best quarterback in Illinois. The only problem is they don't have a receiver to catch his bullet passes. Then one night at a basketball game, Coach Gardener finds a perfect wide receiver. The only catch is the new wide receiver is a girl. Scott (the quarterback) Jill, and Coach Gardener are all very enthusiastic about Jill playing unlike Jill's father and boyfriend, Henry (the Panther's tackle) who don't want Jill to play for two different reasons. At first Jill's father is very protective. If an opponent bumped her out of bounds, her father would be all over Coach Gardener at the end of the game. Henry didn't want Jill to play because he thought every one would make fun of him at school for having a girlfriend who plays on the football team. That all changed when the Panthers started to win every game. Forward Pass takes place in a town in Illinois. The setting doesn't really matter. The book was published in 1989, so I would say it took place from 1989 to about 1995 because (I a big sport fan so I know this) a high girl played a high school game for the first time in 1995. The author didn't really use descriptive language but he made it so you were sucked right into the book. The book is told in 3rd person and is a fairly easy book to read. I read it in three days. I would recommend it to female sport fans from ages 9-12. There was some uptightness during the game when the referees would come up to Coach Gardener and ask if number 89 was a girl. When Coach Gardener replied the "yup" the referees would warn him about the responsibility, and the consequences. The only suspense was if Jill would be able to play. My favorite part of Forward Pass was when Scott threw an interception and then Jill tackled him, saving a touchdown. "The defensive back, behind her, reached up and picked the ball out of the air. He ran past Jill with nothing but space between him and the goal line. Then Jill dived at his back. Jill slammed a shoulder into his backside at waist height, locking her arms around him. He stumbled through one more step and then began to fall, turning sideways with the weight of Jill dragging on him." I liked this part because Jill (from my point of view) was playing real football. She wasn't sissy side-stepping out of bounds. She was playing real hard core football. This part of the book is also the climax.

A well-written book about a female football player.

In Forward Pass, Panther football coach Frank Gardener doesn't have a good pass receiver. That is, until he watches Jill Winston in a basketball game and sees her natural ability to catch a pass. He asks her if she would like to play football and she accepts. She goes on to lead the team through about seven straight wins and leaves football to return to the sport she loves best, basketball.