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Body Check
Twelve-year-old Brent Mullen discovers that the new assistant hockey coach is teaching the defensemen on his team illegal moves to help them win at any cost.
144 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2003
14 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
About the author
Matt Christopher
467 books141 followersMatt Christopher is the writer young readers turn to when they're looking for fast-paced, action-packed sports novels. He is the best-selling author of more than one hundred sports books for young readers.
Matt Christopher is America's bestselling sports writer for children, with more than 100 books and sales approaching six million copies. In 1992, Matt Christopher talked about being a children's book author.
"I became interested in writing when I was 14, a freshman in high school. I was selling magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Country Gentleman, and Liberty, and I would read the stories, particularly the adventure and mystery stories, and think how wonderful it would be to be able to write stories and make a living at it. I also read detective, horror, aviation, and sports stories and decided I would try writing them myself.
Determined to sell, I wrote a detective story a week for 40 weeks, finding the time to marry, work, and play baseball and basketball before I sold my first story in 1941, "The Missing Finger Points," for $50 to Detective Story magazine.
After writing and selling children's sports stories to magazines, I decided to write a baseball book for children. I was living in Syracuse, New York at the time, working at General Electric. I spoke about my idea to the branch librarian. She was immediately interested and told me that they needed sports stories badly. So I came up with my first children's book, The Lucky Baseball Bat. I submitted it to Little, Brown, and the book was published in 1954.
I'm sure that playing sandlot baseball and then semiprofessional baseball with a Class C club in the Canadian-American League influenced my writing. I had my own personal experiences, and I saw how other players reacted to plays, to teammates' and fans' remarks and innuendoes, to managers' orders, etc. All these had a great influence on my writing. My love of the game helped a lot, too, of course.
Out of all the books I've written, my favorite is The Kid Who Only Hit Homers. It's a fantasy, but the main character in it could be real. There are a lot of boys who would love to play baseball but, for some reason, cannot. The only difference between a real-life boy and Sylvester Coddmyer III is the appearance of a character named George Baruth, whom only Sylvester can see and who helps Sylvester become a good ballplayer.
I've written many short stories and books for both children and adults, and find that writing for children is really my niche. Being the eldest of nine children (seven boys and two girls), I've lived through a lot of problems many children live through, and I find these problems excellent examples to include in my books.
Sports have made it possible for me to meet many people with all sorts of life stories, on and off the field, and these are grist for this writer's mill. I'm far beyond playing age now, but I manage to go to both kids' and adult games just to keep up with them, and keep them fresh in my mind.Very few things make me happier than receiving fan letters from boys and girls who write that they had never cared for reading until they started to read my books. That is just about the ultimate in writing for children. I would never trade it for another profession."
Matt Christopher died on September 27, 1997. His legacy is now being carried on by his sons, Duane and Dale Christopher.
Matt Christopher is America's bestselling sports writer for children, with more than 100 books and sales approaching six million copies. In 1992, Matt Christopher talked about being a children's book author.
"I became interested in writing when I was 14, a freshman in high school. I was selling magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Country Gentleman, and Liberty, and I would read the stories, particularly the adventure and mystery stories, and think how wonderful it would be to be able to write stories and make a living at it. I also read detective, horror, aviation, and sports stories and decided I would try writing them myself.
Determined to sell, I wrote a detective story a week for 40 weeks, finding the time to marry, work, and play baseball and basketball before I sold my first story in 1941, "The Missing Finger Points," for $50 to Detective Story magazine.
After writing and selling children's sports stories to magazines, I decided to write a baseball book for children. I was living in Syracuse, New York at the time, working at General Electric. I spoke about my idea to the branch librarian. She was immediately interested and told me that they needed sports stories badly. So I came up with my first children's book, The Lucky Baseball Bat. I submitted it to Little, Brown, and the book was published in 1954.
I'm sure that playing sandlot baseball and then semiprofessional baseball with a Class C club in the Canadian-American League influenced my writing. I had my own personal experiences, and I saw how other players reacted to plays, to teammates' and fans' remarks and innuendoes, to managers' orders, etc. All these had a great influence on my writing. My love of the game helped a lot, too, of course.
Out of all the books I've written, my favorite is The Kid Who Only Hit Homers. It's a fantasy, but the main character in it could be real. There are a lot of boys who would love to play baseball but, for some reason, cannot. The only difference between a real-life boy and Sylvester Coddmyer III is the appearance of a character named George Baruth, whom only Sylvester can see and who helps Sylvester become a good ballplayer.
I've written many short stories and books for both children and adults, and find that writing for children is really my niche. Being the eldest of nine children (seven boys and two girls), I've lived through a lot of problems many children live through, and I find these problems excellent examples to include in my books.
Sports have made it possible for me to meet many people with all sorts of life stories, on and off the field, and these are grist for this writer's mill. I'm far beyond playing age now, but I manage to go to both kids' and adult games just to keep up with them, and keep them fresh in my mind.Very few things make me happier than receiving fan letters from boys and girls who write that they had never cared for reading until they started to read my books. That is just about the ultimate in writing for children. I would never trade it for another profession."
Matt Christopher died on September 27, 1997. His legacy is now being carried on by his sons, Duane and Dale Christopher.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 10, 2014
This book was called Body Check by Matt Christopher. It was about a hockey team with a new coach and a player. The team thinks the new player and coach are too cocky. They use their own words and try to defend their team convincing them that they are bad influences. they dont really like what the players said and take charge. This book wasn't really exciting and there were no surprises. I didnt see alot of discriptive words nor any adjectives, adverbs, etc. One thing I did like was the characters. The author described almost each one of the characters. Again this book wasn't the best book, but i would read it if you want to finish a short book within at least 3 days.
May 6, 2021
My six year old son wanted a book about hockey, so we looked at this author’s section at our local Half Price Books as I knew he writes a ton of sport related books. My four year old got to listen to the book too, as we read it out loud as a family, usually half a chapter a night, along with a few picture books.
This was probably not a great pick for a six year and four year old, no matter how much they like hockey. Even though my son plays for a few hours a week, the detail the writer goes into here became tedious as he recounts numerous practices with a full roster of fictional characters. The plot is about a new assistant coach and his son who join a youth hockey team, and begin emphasizing dirty play as a way to win games. The tension in the book is first whether the new coach and player are actually trying to cheat/play dirty, and later whether the team wants to follow that lead in order to win more games.
It’s a believable book, in terms of conflict that could happen on a youth hockey team, but it’s not an exciting one. I only remember one game actually being played in the book, though there might have been a second one I’m forgetting. Instead it’s a rinse and repeat formula: Brent (the protagonist) notices something that concerns him, he then talks to his brother or dad or coach; repeat over and over. The big game ends on a major downer, and it’s more of a “we’ve all learned a valuable lesson” ending than one little kids will find exciting.
This was probably not a great pick for a six year and four year old, no matter how much they like hockey. Even though my son plays for a few hours a week, the detail the writer goes into here became tedious as he recounts numerous practices with a full roster of fictional characters. The plot is about a new assistant coach and his son who join a youth hockey team, and begin emphasizing dirty play as a way to win games. The tension in the book is first whether the new coach and player are actually trying to cheat/play dirty, and later whether the team wants to follow that lead in order to win more games.
It’s a believable book, in terms of conflict that could happen on a youth hockey team, but it’s not an exciting one. I only remember one game actually being played in the book, though there might have been a second one I’m forgetting. Instead it’s a rinse and repeat formula: Brent (the protagonist) notices something that concerns him, he then talks to his brother or dad or coach; repeat over and over. The big game ends on a major downer, and it’s more of a “we’ve all learned a valuable lesson” ending than one little kids will find exciting.
October 1, 2020
This was our (my 7 year old son & I) first Matt Christopher book and if I hadn’t heard such great things, we wouldn’t likely read any more from this author. There were too many characters and way too much commentary on the hockey plays (many chapters read like a radio sports announcer with long & detailed play by plays). The ending was also way too predictable. Not a fan of this book!
September 20, 2015
Brent Mullen is a future hockey star! At twelve years old, he’s already mastered the basics of ice hockey and he’s looking forward to competing at higher levels. All of his plans change in an instant, however, when his team gains a new player whose father serves as an assistant coach. Unlike Coach Maxwell, who emphasized fair play and sportsmanship, Coach Seabrook is all about doing what it takes to win. When he begins teaching the boys that cheating is okay as long as you don’t get caught, Brent seriously considers leaving the team. Will Brent be able to express his concerns before the illegal moves get one of the players hurt?
This was a very cool book, and it was one of Mr. Christopher’s that I hadn’t read before. In fact, I just went to my library and grabbed one of his books off the shelf at random. Matt Christopher was a perennial favorite when I was growing up, and I’m confident that he’s probably the best sportswriter for children, hands down. If you’ve got a favorite sport, I’ll bet money that Mr. Christopher has written an awesome book about it. All of his stories feature a solid plot set into a background of authentic sports action, which really helps to keep his storylines flying along!
As much as I enjoyed reading “Body Check”, I’d say that any of Mr. Christopher’s books would be a good choice for a young man who’s more interested in playing sports than reading books. But don’t take my word for it, go ahead and try this experiment for yourself! Introduce one of these sports books to the young athlete in your life, and I guarantee you’ll create a ravenous reader. In fact, the new Matt Christopher fan might be in danger of missing practice because he wants to read “just one more page”!
To learn more about the books that boys like, please be sure to check out my new website at http://booksboyslike.blogspot.com/
This was a very cool book, and it was one of Mr. Christopher’s that I hadn’t read before. In fact, I just went to my library and grabbed one of his books off the shelf at random. Matt Christopher was a perennial favorite when I was growing up, and I’m confident that he’s probably the best sportswriter for children, hands down. If you’ve got a favorite sport, I’ll bet money that Mr. Christopher has written an awesome book about it. All of his stories feature a solid plot set into a background of authentic sports action, which really helps to keep his storylines flying along!
As much as I enjoyed reading “Body Check”, I’d say that any of Mr. Christopher’s books would be a good choice for a young man who’s more interested in playing sports than reading books. But don’t take my word for it, go ahead and try this experiment for yourself! Introduce one of these sports books to the young athlete in your life, and I guarantee you’ll create a ravenous reader. In fact, the new Matt Christopher fan might be in danger of missing practice because he wants to read “just one more page”!
To learn more about the books that boys like, please be sure to check out my new website at http://booksboyslike.blogspot.com/
May 27, 2015
Body Check is a sports book about a twelve year old kid named Brent Mullen who feels suspicious about the new assistant coach on the hockey team. This new coach, Mr. Seabrook, is teaching the defense some dirty plays that is causing the team to collapse. Mr. Seabrook tries to get the players to use these illegal moves to help the team win, no matter what the cost. The players must decide whether to do what is right or cheat in order to win the game. Soon they discover that it is not all about winning and sometime is more about being a person of good character.
This book will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. The plot is very interesting because it isn't your typical good guy versus bad guy story. Also, the characters are well developed where you can really get a sense of what each of the characters are like. You can also relate to some of the characters and sympathize with how some of them are feeling. If you like realistic fiction books about sports then I recommend that you read this book as well as others by this author.
This book will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. The plot is very interesting because it isn't your typical good guy versus bad guy story. Also, the characters are well developed where you can really get a sense of what each of the characters are like. You can also relate to some of the characters and sympathize with how some of them are feeling. If you like realistic fiction books about sports then I recommend that you read this book as well as others by this author.
August 29, 2014
Solid book about the importance of playing fair (even if it's just because you don't want to accrue penalties!) and peppered with useful facts about hockey (what names are for certain moves, what practices look like, what goalies wear, and what penalty kills are. Very basic writing, a good stepping stone to more complex Matt Christopher books, and obviously a good choice for a kid who likes hockey. But since it's really about standing up for what's right, you don't have to limit yourself to NHL fans.
The ending was a little abrupt, and the dialogue was rather stilted (both things are understandable considering the audience this is intended for, but I've got high standards for everything), which is why it's not a five star book.
The ending was a little abrupt, and the dialogue was rather stilted (both things are understandable considering the audience this is intended for, but I've got high standards for everything), which is why it's not a five star book.
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May 11, 2015This book was about a hockey team that was getting a new coach that was teaching the defense illegal moves! This coach was going to maybe get to take over the team if the coach that all of the guys liked screwed up! They did not want this to happen. The coach that all of the guys like hasn't been hard enough to all the guys. At the end of the story they had a last game for the team with the other coach. After that game the new coach was going to be the main one! No one wanted that. Luckily the old coach got the team at the end!
My opinion for this book is a good one because it had lots of action but it did get boring at some points.
I would recommend this book to kids that know what hockey is like and if they like action books! I would give this book to kids from the ages of 6-15!
My opinion for this book is a good one because it had lots of action but it did get boring at some points.
I would recommend this book to kids that know what hockey is like and if they like action books! I would give this book to kids from the ages of 6-15!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 17, 2012
In the book Body Check Coach maxwell hired an assistant coach named Mr. Seebrook. Vic his son started playing hockey but vic isn't that good at hockey. the team stars a scrimage. But then vic hit ted after that vic and coach seebrook retuned grins. coach maxwell told vic that was a penalty and vic was really mad. Brent thought vic was teaching the badgers dirty tricks but it wasn't it was coach Seebrook.
I thought this was a great book. I would also recommend this book to people who love sports.
I thought this was a great book. I would also recommend this book to people who love sports.
November 29, 2012
Body Check
This book was pretty good cause when you read it you don't want to put it back down.The main character is Brent in the book. This was about a hockey player and a coach teaching them bad things.
The main character is Brent. I think the theme was frenidship cause there always talk to there frenids when they have problems. The story took place mostly at the ice rink.
I would recommend this book to people that like hockey and a good book.
This book was pretty good cause when you read it you don't want to put it back down.The main character is Brent in the book. This was about a hockey player and a coach teaching them bad things.
The main character is Brent. I think the theme was frenidship cause there always talk to there frenids when they have problems. The story took place mostly at the ice rink.
I would recommend this book to people that like hockey and a good book.
March 15, 2011
The book body check, is a great story. If you like mystorys in your books you read this book is for you. Also if you are a hockey fan you would injoy this book. Read the book body check to find out if the team finds out who the one behind all the dirty play in there games!
October 5, 2010
Valuable lessons in sportsmanship for the young hockey player! Can't say this is a must read for a wider audience.
September 15, 2012
gives a great life lesson You will have to read to find out
Hint: play fair
Hint: play fair
August 29, 2015
This is a great book about real situations that happen in Jr. Hockey leagues. I strongly recommend this book.
February 18, 2025
Review for Body Check can be found on Hockey Blog In Canada.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews