At All Costs

Red Zone #4

by Patrick Jones, Brent Chartier (Illustrations)

Kyle and Mike dream of playing college football. But Mike has taken some serious hits in their high school games. To keep Mike playing, Kyle helps him cheat the school's concussion tests. But at whatrisk?

Genres: Fiction

103 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Patrick Jones is the author of five realistic teen novels, most recently Stolen Car((Walker / Bloomsbury, 2008). His first young adult novel Things Change (Walker & Company, 2004) was named by the Young Adult Library Services Association as a best book for reluctant readers, and was runner-up in the Teen Buckeye Book Award selected by Ohio teens. His second novel Nailed was published by Walker / Bloomsbury in spring 2006 and was a runner-up for the Great Lake Book Award. His 2007 novel, Chasing Tail Lights, is nominated for the Minnesota Books Awards. His most recent (and last) professional publication is Connecting with Reluctant Readers (Neal-Schuman, 2006). In 2006, he won lifetime achievement awards from both the Catholic Library Association, and the American Library Association. Jones is a frequent speaker at library conferences, having visited all fifty states, as well as in Canada, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand. Jones grew up in Flint, Michigan, but now lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Read more at his web page www.connectingya.com, including FAQs about Things Change and Nailed (perfect for book reports!). NOTE: After a bruising experience with another author, he's limited his reviews on Good Reads to only raves as not to disturb the "fellowship" of YA writers.

Reviews

[Michael S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personal Response:
This was a really good book. I liked this because you never really knew what was going to happen. I liked how they keeped the storyline going and they didn't just get right to the point. You could always pick it up and want to keep reading not just read a little bit and put it down.
Plot Summary:
This book was about a two boys named Kyle and Mike. They both played on the Troy Central football team. In one of their games Mike got hit in the head. After that hit he started to not here things, get headaches, and throw up. Mike told Kyle and they both new he had a concussion. Kyle was helping Mike get through school till a concussion test came up. Kyle helped Mike study on how to beat the test. He passed but all his symptoms kept getting worse and worse. Mike kept playing but then another concussion test came up with a new doctor unexpectedly. That is is just a little bit about this book if you want to know what all happened you will have to read it.
Recommendation:
If you like sport books that are short and easy, this is for you. This book would be a great book if you are a middle schooler needing RC points. This would also be good for any freshman who have to do good reads like me. So if you like sport books but don't like reading a lot this is a book for you.

[Teddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book, At All Costs is a definite read because it's about football, an intense sport. The main character(Mike deals with some major struggles and he doesn't want people to know, so he sneaks around, making you want to turn the page. This book is about Mike and Kyle having a dream of going to play football in college. But one day during their season, a concussion doctor shows up to the school and tests all the football players for any possible body or head injuries. Are the two boys football careers over? They are left with a decision. Will they choose the right one?
I would recommend At All Cost to any boy or girl who like football, romantic, and intense books. I say this because it's about a high school football team. Also, there is a lot of romantic and drama parts in this book. The book is very short and only has 102 pages but once you read it it’s worth it.

[Wes Flease · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personal Response: I liked the book because its about football so there's lots of action. Also there's a good story to it. The main character is faced with a struggle, and he doesn't know what to do witch makes you want to keep reading. The author also used a real life situation witch makes the book feel more real. I also think the book was good because it showed what could happen if you make a bad choice.

Plot Summary: This book was about two boys who shared a dream of going to college and playing football. The Characters Mike and Kyle are both playing football when an unexpected person shows up to school and does some testing. This could ruin their dream to play football. The characters are left with a decision. will they choose the right one?

Recommendation: I would recommend At All Cost to ninth grade to tenth grade boys. I would recommend it to them because its about football. There's a lot of horseplay between the boys in the book just like boys are age. The book is also very comprehensible.

[Cody Snavely · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I started reading At All Cost by Patrick Jones, I thought it was going to be a football team playing their hardest at all cost even with bad conditions. But I was both right and wrong. It was about two friends who played football together and had a dream about two lockers with their names on them. But one of them had a concussion and still played but he shouldn’t have played but they didn’t want to give up on their dream. If you want to find out more about the book you should read the book.

What I liked about the book was that they didn’t want to give up on their dreams, and they didn’t give up on each other. It just proves that they really wanted to complete their dreams together. And when one went down the other did the same he didn’t want to move on without his friend. True friendship will never give up on each other and that’s what I like. They stick with each other and help each other trying to reach their dreams or goals.

[Bryson Shumaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

At all costs was a good book with a relating plot between a couple of teenagers that are on the football team. One of the lineman take a serious hit and have a possible concussion. Doctors come into the school to check out all of the team players for any possible head or body injuries. Overall it was a good story with several problems between romance and every Friday night football. I give this book a 4/5 stars just due to the author using good vocabulary in the book and using detailed words to paint pictures in the readers mind.

[Nich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was all around a great boo because it constantly had moments where things seemed impossible to have a good ending. Not everything turned out the way that Kyle may have wanted but it wasn't the worst thing that could happen. Even though he endangered his friend's life, he may have saved many more. This book was definitely a good read.

[Banks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that this book was a very good book.It had a lot of emotional tuns for some of the players.It was an interesting book and I never lost interest while reading.It was an easy book to comprehend an i would recommend this book to anyone especially to people who like sports.

[Jaden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kyle and Mike have a dream of playing in college football. They are b0th member of the trojans high football team. And lately their dream started to fade away and not happen anymore, because Mike took a lot of hits. Mike took a head injury that started affecting how he plays on the field.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fourth one in the Red Zone series takes a very contemporary look at the seriousness of concussions in sports. And while I found a bit of it fantastical (Kyle and Mike are able to hide Kyle's concussion from experts in the field who are visiting the school to share information about advances as well as draw attention to the issue), I did like this conversation happening in the story, from the vomiting and memory loss, to the fact that there needs to be accountability but also a way to step back, in order to preserve health, especially in high school students.

Again, the books are functional and specific with some realistic characters and a general enough setting to make it Anytown, USA.