• Age: 12 to 18
• Grade: 7 to 12

Gordon Korman's acclaimed and timely YA novel explores the dangerous side of high school contact sports.

Marcus is new in town and is hoping to make the championship high school football team, but it seems like a closed club, run by current star quarterback Troy.

One day, while tossing the ball around in a park one day, Marcus meets Charlie, a man in his fifties who can play football like an old pro, which is exactly what he happens to be — a former NFL player and local celebrity. Charlie has boundless energy and coaches Marcus on his fear of being tackled, but as Marcus becomes more involved in this friendship with Charlie, it becomes painfully obvious to him, through the simplicity of Charlie's thoughts, that the long-term effects of the violent plays he suffered during his football glory days have taken their toll on Charlie.

With wit and sensitivity, Gordon Korman tackles truths about high school sports, while delivering a poignant story about an unlikely friendship.

Gordon Korman
est né à Montréal et a grandi dans la région de Toronto. Il a signé son
premier contrat chez Scholastic à l'âge de 14 ans, avec son premier livre
Deux farceurs au collège.
Il est maintenant l'auteur de plus de 60 livres, dont beaucoup lui ont valu
de nombreuses récompenses. Gordon habite dans la ville de New York.

Gordon Korman is the #1 bestselling author of three books in The 39 Clues series as well as eight books in his Swindle series: Swindle, Zoobreak, Framed, Showoff, Hideout, Jackpot, Unleashed, and Jingle. His other books include This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall! (published when he was 14); The Toilet Paper Tigers; Radio Fifth Grade; Slacker; Restart; Whatshisface; Level 13; the trilogies Island, Everest, Dive, Kidnapped, and Titanic; and the series The Hypnotists and On the Run. Gordon grew up in Thornhill, Ontario and he lives in New York with his family. Visit him online at www.gordonkorman.com.

Gordon Korman's profile page

• Short-listed, OLA Red Maple Award, Fiction

Praise for Pop:

“A frank examination of the potential consequences of contact sports... [Pop] will definitely please any young reader who likes a good, scrappy sports story where jockstrap gags energetically collide with thoughtful revelations.” — The Globe and Mail

Pop