• Age: 12
• Grade: 8 to 12
• Reading age: 12

Rooster Cobb is in trouble--with his school, with his mother, with his girlfriend. He smokes too much and he hates his stepfather. In fact, he might not graduate from high school. But he just doesn't seem to care. That is until the guidance counselor and the principal come up with a plan to get Rooster through grade twelve, out of their lives forever and possibly on the right track with his life. The last thing Rooster wants to do is coach The Strikers, a bowling team of special-needs adults, especially when he finds out he's going to be mentored by the most unpopular girl in school, the principal's daughter, Elma. When he starts to take coaching seriously, his friends make fun of him, and his girlfriend accuses him of taking the easy way out. But when one of The Strikers dies unexpectedly, Rooster discovers there are as many ways to be a hero as there are ways to mess up.

Don Trembath began writing for keeps when he was 13 years old. He wrote horror stories at night and read them to his little brother as he tried to fall asleep. "Every morning I'd ask him if he'd had a nightmare and he'd say, 'No. Was I supposed to?' I soon abandoned horror stories and moved on to comedy. I read those stories to him and would ask him in the morning. 'Did you laugh?' One day he said, 'No, but I had a nightmare.'"

Don was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on May 22, 1963--the third youngest of four boys. In the winter he played hockey and in the summer football, baseball, and soccer. Between games, he went to school. At the age of 14, Don moved with his family to Alberta. He graduated from Paul Kane High School in St. Albert and went to the University of Alberta to study English. He has written for weekly and daily newspapers, local and national magazines, and a host of trade publications.
Don's first book, The Tuesday Cafe, was published in 1996. Since then he has written nine others, with two more, Daydream Believer and Hypnotized published in 2007. Don also teaches writing at MacEwan College in Edmonton, and regularly visit schools and libraries across the country.

Don currently lives in the town of Morinville, Alberta with his wife, Lisa, their three kids, three laid back cats, and their neighbor's big dog.

Don Trembath's profile page

• Nominated, Stellar Book Award
• Commended, Canadian Children's Book Centre (CCBC) Our Choice
• Nominated, Forest of Reading White Pine Award
• Commended, New York Public Library (NYPL) - Books for the Teen Age

"An easy and delightful read, especially for older boys who are not regular readers. Recommended."

CM Magazine

2006 New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age list

NY PL

"Trembath has achieved the difficult challenge of writing a book about emotions with considerable potential appeal for boys."

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