Jake Maddox: Running Back Dreams

Team Jake Maddox Sports Stories

By: Jake Maddox, Sean Tiffany

Narrated by: anonymous

In the biggest game of the year, Noah's on the bench as usual. But when another player is injured, Coach puts Noah in. Soon, the outcome of the game rests on his shoulders.

©2014 Jake Maddox, Sean Tiffany (P)2013 Capstone Publishers, Inc.

Fun story about doing your best in sports

Noah is on the football team, but he usually rides the bench during the games. He's okay with that, though, because it gives him time to study the statistics of other football players. But when a player is injured during a game, suddenly the coach is putting Noah in to play, and the outcome of the game is now riding on Noah's shoulders. Will Noah be able to turn his statistical knowledge into something useful the team can use to win the game?

Like other Jake Maddox stories, the focus of the story is on teamwork, fair play, and doing the best you can. Though there's not a huge plot in the stories - they're much too short for that - each of them has a little nugget of information that can be really good for kids who are in the target age range of these books, and this story is no different.

The narration is also well done, and at 35 minutes long, this is a story that could be listened to multiple times if the listener enjoys it. While I won't be one to listen to it multiple times, I would be that younger readers would be much more likely to do so.