ROCKET ARM

A talented young quarterback takes advantage of an unexpected chance to play on a larger stage to pursue his dreams of football glory.

Eleven-year-old Zeno, who has Greek and Jewish ancestry, jumps on the offer of a full ride to an expensive athletic boarding school with nationally ranked teams. But hardly has he arrived before he’s thrown into a maelstrom of distractions ranging from comical (a roomie who farts toxic clouds) to romantic (a dazzling classmate persuades him to sneak out at night to dig for buried treasure) to outright fantastical (his coach makes serious physical injuries magically disappear through “voodoo,” or hypnotic suggestion). Is it all intended to play out as a light fantasy? Perhaps, but some unresolved elements suggest otherwise, such as the way Coach Lamb comes across as uncomfortably handsy with his new star player and Zeno’s father’s emotional bullying: He’s seldom “angry enough to cow [Zeno’s] mom, but when he did have her on the ropes, look out.” Though Green’s writing is sharp when capturing on-field heroics and strategy, it’s less smooth when the action moves elsewhere; readers are likely to feel jerked about by the sudden changes in tone from one very short chapter to the next. Coach Lamb, who presents white, speaks with an exaggerated Cajun drawl (“An’ nobody got more on da line den me….You know it, an’ I know it, an’ da kidz know it, too”).

Snaps briskly on the gridiron but fumbles the handoffs between games.