The Extraordinary Life of a Mediocre Jock: God, I’ll Do Anything – Just Make Me Awesome

by Ted Kluck, Daniel Hawkins (Artist)

Join Flex on His Quest to Be Cool Like most middle schoolers, Flex's mind is on a million different things—school, sports, friends, girls (of course), and yeah, he's thinking about God too. More than any of these thoughts, Flex is obsessed with one thing—being cool. But how can Flex attain awesomeness when he's so amazingly average at, well...EVERYTHING?!? Football could be his ticket out of seventh-grade obscurity, but then Coach sticks him with a boring jersey number and reassigns him to the most unglamorous position on the entire team. His parents aren't helping, either. They won't even let him bring his iPod to school like the other kids do. At least, his parents love him and love the Lord. That's HUGE. And just when Flex thinks life couldn't any more complicated, he finds himself suddenly drawn to KK, the mysterious drama girl. She's homeschooled and in ninth grade. KK is totally different...and a little exciting. Will Flex ever be considered cool? In God's eyes, maybe he already is.

192 pages, Hardcover

Published May 8, 2018

About the author

Ted Kluck writes on topics ranging from Mike Tyson to the Emergent Church. Ted has played professional indoor football, coached high school football, trained as a professional wrestler, served as a missionary, and taught writing courses at the college level.

Reviews

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun read! So funny...as always...and so accurate to a middle school life! 😂 I loved it!

[Caroline Lancaster · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very cute book! It’s a very easy read! I would suggest this book to anyone!! I really like it, the characters where perfectly made and it was pretty funny😋

[Marie Tankersley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, quick, and entertaining read :)

[Bella Putt · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 stars

A fun and quick read that will make you laugh!

[Mariam Putt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so funny and made me laugh so much! I recommend this book to anyone who likes a fun romance quick read.

[Leah Compston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book and the humorous insights into church life, many of which reminded me of my own middle school years in church youth group. If only I had been insightful as Flex, I might have been less insufferable during middle/high school. :)
Thoughtful, funny, and well-written.

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have listened to Ted's podcasts for years, and I am a big fan. This book is very much written in his voice, which is fun because I obviously enjoy his commentary on life but difficult in that Flex sounds like a young Ted (and it's hard to sort what's taken from real life vs what's fiction). I am an adult, so I don't know if it scores with its intended middle school audience, but it was a quick enjoyable read. The illustrations were a fun addition to the story.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this for my oldest son and enjoyed it myself. The interactions between the dad and son are excellent and the culmination story provided a lesson to me as a father. Though the dating scenario feels like a stretch, I have heard Mr. Kluck's story of meeting his wife and it was sweet to dovetail it into this story. Overall, great job.

[Wesley and Fernie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun little graphic novel. Easy-to-follow and engaging. The only slight difficulty is that it is very much Ted Kluck’s voice throughout, so it was hard to imagine the main character thinking some of these thoughts.

[Valentyna Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried , I laughed ❤️

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read-aloud.