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Halfback Attack
Freddie Chase is one of the best halfbacks on the squad, but he has to stop being afraid to tackle.
100 pages, Library Binding
First published January 1, 1962
12 people are currently reading
44 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 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 18, 2019
This book of adolescent sports fiction stars Freddie as a fast football halfback restricted to only playing offense as he is reluctant to engage in the level of contact needed to make tackles. Which is a disadvantage to his team, for they need his speed on the defensive side of the ball. Freddie is being raised by his single mother and he often wishes his dad were there to give him advice. Freddie is also the equivalent of a big brother to Jimmie, a younger child in the neighborhood.
When Freddie faces potential death in a car accident and has to decide whether to attend a Halloween party or take Jimmie trick-or-treating, he learns that football is no substitute for the challenges of life. As a consequence, Freddie acquires the courage to make strong tackles, making him a valuable member of the defensive team.
What is different about this book and a positive feature is that this is not just another book where the main character is playing the big game at the end for a title. Freddie’s team is not championship caliber, their last game is being played so that they will finish with a .500 record. Furthermore, while Freddie is a good player, he is not a star, making all the big plays in leading his team to victory.
The best part of this book is Freddie’s relationship with Jimmie, lacking a father himself, he knows what it is like not to have attention from an older male. Rather than mope about it, he becomes a friend to a boy that needs what he lacks. In many ways this is a book more about growing up than it is about playing football.
When Freddie faces potential death in a car accident and has to decide whether to attend a Halloween party or take Jimmie trick-or-treating, he learns that football is no substitute for the challenges of life. As a consequence, Freddie acquires the courage to make strong tackles, making him a valuable member of the defensive team.
What is different about this book and a positive feature is that this is not just another book where the main character is playing the big game at the end for a title. Freddie’s team is not championship caliber, their last game is being played so that they will finish with a .500 record. Furthermore, while Freddie is a good player, he is not a star, making all the big plays in leading his team to victory.
The best part of this book is Freddie’s relationship with Jimmie, lacking a father himself, he knows what it is like not to have attention from an older male. Rather than mope about it, he becomes a friend to a boy that needs what he lacks. In many ways this is a book more about growing up than it is about playing football.
January 5, 2020
When first reading this book I was really into the book and really wanted to see how Freddie would get over his fear of tackling and the book was full of great sports action which doesn't surprise me because Matt Christopher knows what he's doing when it comes to writing sport books
March 1, 2019
let me read
January 30, 2022
Matt Christopher never dissapoints and I like how Freddie was able to get over his fear of tackling
April 7, 2011
I read crackerjack halfback by Matt Christopher. The book was about a football player that was afraid to takel another player.
My favorite part was when friede takling the bully to get little jimmis football cards. The worst thing about the book was there were some parts that the author didn't tell use about.
The main charter fredie was a good football but was sacerd of one thing and it was tackling
My favorite part was when friede takling the bully to get little jimmis football cards. The worst thing about the book was there were some parts that the author didn't tell use about.
The main charter fredie was a good football but was sacerd of one thing and it was tackling
March 3, 2013
I read this to see if my son would enjoy it. My son loves football. I wasn't convinced that the main character liked football very much. The Jimmie character was more like my son. Many kids might be able to relate to Freddie, the main character. This book is a little young for my son. The language was a bit dated & the story line wasn't rock solid, but for a young reader (7-8 years old) who wouldn't analyze it too much this was a pretty good book.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews