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Halfback Tough
New at Graham High, Joe joins the football team and begins to change his tough guy outlook as he becomes absorbed by the game and gains self-esteem and new friends.
211 pages, Library Binding
First published January 1, 1986
8 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
Thomas J. Dygard
23 books11 followersIn His Own Words...
"I can't remember when I first started writing fiction. it was shortly after I began reading fiction, I'm sure.
"I've been a voracious reader for as long as I can remember. As a teenager, I read a lot of the same kinds of books I'm writing-the John R. Tunis sports stories, for example. I also read a lot of history when I was young-and I still do now. It's always fascinated me.
"When I was a high school senior, I was offered two jobs, both of the apprentice sort. One was in a commercial artist's studio, on a recommendation from my art teacher. The other was in the sports department of the local newspaper, following work on the school paper. I took the sportswriting job.
"For four years I worked for the Arkansas Gazette while attending the University of Arkansas, first at Little Rock and then at Fayetteville, covering football, baseball, basketball, boxing, golf, tennis-everything that made up the sports page. After graduation, I joined the Associated Press as a newsman at Little Rock and later worked in AP bureaus in Detroit, Birmingham, and New Orleans. Eventually, I was Chief of Bureau in Little Rock, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Tokyo, Japan. I retired from the Associated Press in 1993 and now live in Evansville, Indiana.
"For me, writing fiction is fun, relaxing, and satisfying-an enjoyable change of pace, a recharging of the batteries.
"My first young adult novel, Running Scared, got started one night in a motel room in Champaign, Illinois, when I had nothing else to do. Before long, the story had me in its grip. The creation of the thing was a fascinating experience. I liked the characters. I liked leading them through their problems to their triumphs. I kept going until one day it was finished.
"I did not set out to write for young people. Looking back, I think it was something of a blessing that 1 did not. As I wrote Running Scared, I imagined the reader as an adult, but after it was finished, it seemed more appropriate for young readers. The result, I think, was that the story did not talk down to teenagers. In every book I've written since, I've tried to keep the same approach."
"I can't remember when I first started writing fiction. it was shortly after I began reading fiction, I'm sure.
"I've been a voracious reader for as long as I can remember. As a teenager, I read a lot of the same kinds of books I'm writing-the John R. Tunis sports stories, for example. I also read a lot of history when I was young-and I still do now. It's always fascinated me.
"When I was a high school senior, I was offered two jobs, both of the apprentice sort. One was in a commercial artist's studio, on a recommendation from my art teacher. The other was in the sports department of the local newspaper, following work on the school paper. I took the sportswriting job.
"For four years I worked for the Arkansas Gazette while attending the University of Arkansas, first at Little Rock and then at Fayetteville, covering football, baseball, basketball, boxing, golf, tennis-everything that made up the sports page. After graduation, I joined the Associated Press as a newsman at Little Rock and later worked in AP bureaus in Detroit, Birmingham, and New Orleans. Eventually, I was Chief of Bureau in Little Rock, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Tokyo, Japan. I retired from the Associated Press in 1993 and now live in Evansville, Indiana.
"For me, writing fiction is fun, relaxing, and satisfying-an enjoyable change of pace, a recharging of the batteries.
"My first young adult novel, Running Scared, got started one night in a motel room in Champaign, Illinois, when I had nothing else to do. Before long, the story had me in its grip. The creation of the thing was a fascinating experience. I liked the characters. I liked leading them through their problems to their triumphs. I kept going until one day it was finished.
"I did not set out to write for young people. Looking back, I think it was something of a blessing that 1 did not. As I wrote Running Scared, I imagined the reader as an adult, but after it was finished, it seemed more appropriate for young readers. The result, I think, was that the story did not talk down to teenagers. In every book I've written since, I've tried to keep the same approach."
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
October 15, 2019
Very good book to read. Not hard....12 points btw
November 23, 2008
I thought this was a very good book. The main reason I liked it was because it is a sport book and I like mostly anything about sports. Halfback Tough is by Thomas J. Dygard and I have already read a few books that he has wrote this year and I have liked all of them. Halfback Tough is about a boy you has just moved and doesn't have many friends so he joined the high school football team and through the whole book he is battling for the starting position.
June 16, 2020
Do you ever pick up a sports book and wonder where all of the sports action is? They talk about being on the soccer team or the football team, but the author never gets out on the field and describes the plays. If that bugs you, you won’t be disappointed in books by Thomas Dygard. He takes you right out on the field or the court and describes what the players see and hear and feel. And the stories are good ones, too.
Halfback Tough tells the story of Joe Atkins who moves from one town to another and on a whim decides to go out for the football team. He’s fast, he can catch. He’s never played football on a team before, but what the heck—he may as well try out. This is something he never would have done at his old school. His friends would have laughed at him: they all used to hang out under the bleachers at his old school and smoke and drink and basically get in trouble. Joe wonders if anyone will be nice to him or if they’ll know what he was like at his old school. It turns out he’s an awesome football player, but he’s not sure if he can ever fit in with the team.
The only thing that is probably going to bug you about Dygard’s writing is that it’s twenty years old, so he uses some terms that aren’t current. Like in this book, he uses the term “snoots” to describe people he thinks are stuck up. And the people are named things like Larry, Earl, Joe, Marty and Richard. If you can deal with that, Dygard’s the king of sports description, and he wrote a lot of it.
(REVIEW: This was written a long time ago, so kids may reject it because of the old fashioned vocabulary, but that would be a shame. Joe and his old friends used to smoke and drink vodka, even in the car. They also vandalized property sometimes. These behaviors are not glamorized at all in this book, though. Good parent role models, good friends, good coaches. Great writer. Lexile = 800L)
Halfback Tough tells the story of Joe Atkins who moves from one town to another and on a whim decides to go out for the football team. He’s fast, he can catch. He’s never played football on a team before, but what the heck—he may as well try out. This is something he never would have done at his old school. His friends would have laughed at him: they all used to hang out under the bleachers at his old school and smoke and drink and basically get in trouble. Joe wonders if anyone will be nice to him or if they’ll know what he was like at his old school. It turns out he’s an awesome football player, but he’s not sure if he can ever fit in with the team.
The only thing that is probably going to bug you about Dygard’s writing is that it’s twenty years old, so he uses some terms that aren’t current. Like in this book, he uses the term “snoots” to describe people he thinks are stuck up. And the people are named things like Larry, Earl, Joe, Marty and Richard. If you can deal with that, Dygard’s the king of sports description, and he wrote a lot of it.
(REVIEW: This was written a long time ago, so kids may reject it because of the old fashioned vocabulary, but that would be a shame. Joe and his old friends used to smoke and drink vodka, even in the car. They also vandalized property sometimes. These behaviors are not glamorized at all in this book, though. Good parent role models, good friends, good coaches. Great writer. Lexile = 800L)
December 8, 2017
Halfback Tough is not your ordinary football book, it also tackles the elements of a struggling high school student in a new school. The main character Joe Atkins is a senior in high school at a new school. He has just moved to Graham and has moved from Worthington. At Worthington he wasn’t known for being the most popular or the smartest or the most athletic. He was more of a gangster. Joe and his two closest friends, Richard and Marty, would smoke cigarettes together, skip classes together, and drink vodka together. Now he’s is in Graham, his parents told him he could have a fresh start with better friends. Joe thinks about that throughout the whole summer he is in Worthington and then when school starts he is given an opportunity. He joins the football team. After he signs up all he can think about are Marty and Richard’s voices saying, “So you want to be a (snoot) now, go ahead join all those goody goods on that football team.” Joe uses football to get all his problems off his mind, until he finds out that in his last game he will be playing against his old high school, Worthington. The only question now is how will Joe balance all his problems with football if can’t use football to be his anymore. Their is a great lesson to be learned and a great conclusion that wraps the whole book up, but to find out you'll have to read the book.
November 8, 2019
Halfback tough by Thomas j. Dygard. This book wasn't that interesting in my opinion. This book is about a kid joe akins transferring schools and he came from a school were he smoked and drank alcohol. When he transferred their was football sign ups and he signed up and he got all of his gear and he has never played football because is friend in his old school said it was stupid. When he went to practice he ended up being a halfback and he was the best on the team. They played games and they won every single game they were undefeated team.
This is why I don't like this book because the other made him be the best player and never lost a game. He couldn't make him have a competition and make the games harder for his team not just put the last game be hard and close scoring. This book seems very unrealistic. I like that this guy played against his home team and won against them. It is like it isn't even a challenge for the team because the always throw the ball to joe the main character. The book seems like it is perfect for for joe and his team they seem to not even come close to losing a game.
If you like a book where someone is the best player on their team and their team will never lose this is the book for you. Go and get the book halfback tough
This is why I don't like this book because the other made him be the best player and never lost a game. He couldn't make him have a competition and make the games harder for his team not just put the last game be hard and close scoring. This book seems very unrealistic. I like that this guy played against his home team and won against them. It is like it isn't even a challenge for the team because the always throw the ball to joe the main character. The book seems like it is perfect for for joe and his team they seem to not even come close to losing a game.
If you like a book where someone is the best player on their team and their team will never lose this is the book for you. Go and get the book halfback tough
November 6, 2019
Halfback Tough is a book about a teenager named Joe that tried out for the school. Joe is a kid that moved to a new town and he has no more friends. So he just sits in the bleachers after school, he over heard kids in the hallway singing up for football. So he signed up him self he filled in a paper. he put in his weight, height, and position for his position he put halfback not knowing what it was. Joe has to come peat with other teens that play halfbacks for his position. I love the book it is honesty my favorite book it has real world situations. I gave it a five star rating because how real it is. the theme of the book is practice makes perfect.
February 3, 2019
Great young adult book for high school boys
March 2, 2021
I read this as a 7th Grader, back in '93. It is the first book I ever read that I saw the movie in my head. To this day, I can still see scenes from it in my head when I think about it.
February 19, 2014
The main character in this book was Joe Atkins who moved one hundred and fifty miles away from his home. He moved to Graham over the summer and had to go to a completely different school with people he had never met in his life. Joe's conflict is his friends from his old school Marty and Richard who are huge trouble makers and a very bad influence on Joe's life. He is worried all the time when they will come and visit him because they could take him back to all of his old habits like drinking,smoking, and vandalism.
Joe was a rising football star through all of this and at the Worthington game he had seen his friends and gave them his acknowledgement when he saw them, even though he really didn't want to talk to them. After the Worthington game is over Richard and Marty say they are going to go have fun after the game and want Joe to come along. Joe says no and ends up meeting them there at the Purple People Eater. When Joe leaves and goes home he finds out the next day that the Graham High School had been broken into over night.
The next day at school everybody in his whole school was questioned on who they thought had done this. That day Joe had came into the office and told the detective what he knew even though he was lying right to the face of the detective. The day of the Championship game Joe was called into the office of Mr. Crain because the detective found out and lied to the detective. Everything went over well and Joe took his team to the championship and they won 21-7 in the Graham Wildcats favor.
I liked the book because I quite frankly like any book about sports. The one thing I didn't like was how quick and choppy the author revealed all of the conflicts. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes sports. Anyone that likes a quick turn of events and a good surprise at the end of a story.
Joe was a rising football star through all of this and at the Worthington game he had seen his friends and gave them his acknowledgement when he saw them, even though he really didn't want to talk to them. After the Worthington game is over Richard and Marty say they are going to go have fun after the game and want Joe to come along. Joe says no and ends up meeting them there at the Purple People Eater. When Joe leaves and goes home he finds out the next day that the Graham High School had been broken into over night.
The next day at school everybody in his whole school was questioned on who they thought had done this. That day Joe had came into the office and told the detective what he knew even though he was lying right to the face of the detective. The day of the Championship game Joe was called into the office of Mr. Crain because the detective found out and lied to the detective. Everything went over well and Joe took his team to the championship and they won 21-7 in the Graham Wildcats favor.
I liked the book because I quite frankly like any book about sports. The one thing I didn't like was how quick and choppy the author revealed all of the conflicts. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes sports. Anyone that likes a quick turn of events and a good surprise at the end of a story.
May 10, 2013
Great coming of age story dealing with all your high school/ teen drama in a fairly decent way.
Topics include: Moving to a new school, in crowd, "bad" reputations, feeling left out and ostracized, honesty in tough situations, how do you know who is really a friend, accomplishments, feeling proud, doing homework or not doing homework, athletic accomplishment, reading adults, prejudging adults... the list goes on and on.
Although I'm female, never played football a day in my life, and am in my early 30s, I enjoyed this book. I don't know if I would have enjoyed it as a teenager but I could see some of the teens that I work with appreciating this as someone they can relate to when trying to start over, start new and start fresh with a better attitude and better choices.
Topics include: Moving to a new school, in crowd, "bad" reputations, feeling left out and ostracized, honesty in tough situations, how do you know who is really a friend, accomplishments, feeling proud, doing homework or not doing homework, athletic accomplishment, reading adults, prejudging adults... the list goes on and on.
Although I'm female, never played football a day in my life, and am in my early 30s, I enjoyed this book. I don't know if I would have enjoyed it as a teenager but I could see some of the teens that I work with appreciating this as someone they can relate to when trying to start over, start new and start fresh with a better attitude and better choices.
February 21, 2012
In halfback tough Joe faces coming to a new school and trying to fit in. At his old school he had a very bad reputation and grades. At his new school he decides to join the football team. He was making friends, getting good grades, and he was the teams allstar. But before the game of the season his old friends show up and deface his school. His new friends find out about his past and he feels like an outsider again. He has to figure out a way to prove them wrong and beat the best team in the conference. This was a good book with a good plot line. It kept me trying to figure out what was going to happen next. I would recommend it to a friend or anyone who likes to read. It will keep you guessing.
February 27, 2016
*This review may contain spoilers*
Man! this was a really good book! It's one of those books that when you are done reading it you really want another book but nothing on your bookshelf looks of sound good to you. This book is definitely for an older audience, I would say 13 or 14-up. The boy used to be a very bad trouble maker so there is a little bit of use of vodka in the book. not to much though, because the boy is leaving all that junk behind. but that is the reason it is for older audience's. But it was really good, and everyone old enough should read it. :)
Man! this was a really good book! It's one of those books that when you are done reading it you really want another book but nothing on your bookshelf looks of sound good to you. This book is definitely for an older audience, I would say 13 or 14-up. The boy used to be a very bad trouble maker so there is a little bit of use of vodka in the book. not to much though, because the boy is leaving all that junk behind. but that is the reason it is for older audience's. But it was really good, and everyone old enough should read it. :)
May 27, 2014
Joe is a troubled kid, but when he moves to a new town, he gets a chance to start over...or so he thinks. This book is about Joe and his story about being a troubled kid to turning into a football star and how his past can hurt his chances. There is a very good lesson to take away from this book: Make wise descisions, you can't take bad choices back. I definatley like this book a lot and the theme. Also the action of this book was very exciting too. This is one of my favorite books I read this year. Rate 10/10
October 18, 2011
This was such a great book! It really caught my attention from the opening paragraph, it was filled with adrenaline and kept my eyes glued to each page. I love the way Dygard writes about sports, he is very descriptive and does a great job at it.
September 16, 2008
I liked this book alot. It is about a guy who transfers from another school. He joins the football team. he is so good that they use the term halfback tough to describe him.
October 9, 2016
Quick easy read. Interesting enough.
March 17, 2012
It was GREAT!!!
ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!!
ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews