Lessons of the Game — Diane Gonzales Bertrand

Popular young-adult author Diane Gonzales Bertrand has scored a touchdown with this story of student teacher Kaylene Morales and her surprise reunion with old friend Alex Garrison, now a coach and fellow instructor at Leon Creek High School. Teenaged readers will rapidly become immersed in enjoyable scenes of football games, pizza dinners, school parties, family arguments, and locker-room banter. At the same time, they may find themselves pondering such dilemmas as the conflicts between athletic and academic demands and between professional duties and personal aspirations.