Champions: #7

The best juvenile sports fiction excites while sending a clear message about life and how to live it. It also portrays the athletes as regular people with difficulties that the non-athlete can relate to. Jeff Porter is the captain of the Tucker Tigers high school football team and they are challenging for the Northeast Massachusetts Divisional Championship. Jeff tries hard and does well in his classes, but is an absolute nervous wreck when it comes to girls. Jeff is offered a scholarship to tiny Hamlin College, and when he visits the campus, he is convinced that it is just right for him. However, when the coach of football power SNYU approaches Jeff and makes promises about his role in order to lure him there, at first Jeff considers it. Fortunately, Jeff listens to his high school coaches, as they know that the coach of SNYU is a bit of a con artist and does not really care about his players beyond what they do on the football field. At the end, Jeff's team wins the big game (naturally) and he decides to fill his true niche at Hamlin. The combination of ability, uncertainty how to use it, confusion as to what to do and being nervous around girls is all teenage boys wrapped in a microcosm. Jeff is a hero with some body parts made of clay, which makes him someone that young boys can relate to.