GAME PLAN

When tiny Barton High's football coach is hospitalized a week before the season's last game, only bookish student manager Hubert ``Beano'' Hatton is available to step in. Never having coached before, Beano is faced with several challenges: organizing practice sessions, dealing with the local media, gaining his team's respect, outfacing prima donna quarterback Marty Tucker, and—most importantly—working out a plan to beat the Carterville Bobcats. Dygard develops the idea that thinking, as much as athletic ability, wins games, and shows real insight into the art of coaching. Concealing his uncertainty behind a confident mask, Beano rises to the occasion; and his sharp analysis of Carterville's players gives his team the victory. As usual with Dygard, the climactic game is a real edge-of-the-seater; younger readers will also appreciate the simple language and repetition of key points. (Fiction. 10-13)