Go Long!

by Ronde Barber, Tiki Barber

Tiki and Ronde were the stars of their Pee Wee football team, the Cave Springs Vikings. But middle school is much bigger than elementary school and it’s a whole different game—on and off the field. When Coach Spangler takes a job coaching for the high school team and Tiki’s old science teacher Mr. Wheeler is tapped for the middle school coaching job, the beginning of the school year and the football season is off to a bumpy start. But through working together, the boys discover that the whole team is bigger than any of its parts.

Genres: Sports, Realistic Fiction, Childrens, Fiction, Football

164 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 26, 2008

About the author

Ronde Barber was born and raised in Roanoke, Virginia, where he played with his brother Tiki on the Cave Spring Eagles junior high school football team and wore number five. Today he is one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL, wearing number 20 for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and has etched his name in the NFL record books with his exceptional playmaking ability. Ronde is a Super Bowl winner, a four-time Pro Bowl selection, and the first cornerback in league history to have at least twenty sacks and twenty interceptions in a career. Ronde collaborated with his brother Tiki on three previous childrens books, By My Brothers Side, the Christopher Award winning Game Day, and Teammates. Ronde Barber lives with his wife, Claudia, and their daughters Yammile Rose and Justyce Rosina, in Florida.

Tiki Barber grew up in Roanoke, Virginia, where he wore number two for the Cave Spring Eagles football team during junior high school, playing alongside his brother Ronde. From 1997 through 2006, he wore number 21 as a running back for the New York Giants, where he holds every rushing record in team history and was a three-time Pro Bowl selection. He was one of the most versatile and productive players in the NFL. Tiki is currently a correspondent for NBCs Today Show and an Analyst for Football Night in America/Sunday Night Football, and was previously a morning news anchor on Fox & Friends. Tiki collaborated with his brother Ronde on three previous childrens books, By My Brothers Side, the Christopher Award winning Game Day, and Teammates. Tiki Barber lives with his wife, Ginny, and sons A.J. and Chason, in New York City.
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Reviews

[Levi · Rating 5 out of 5]

BEST BOOK EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

[Bryce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you think mad skill is all it takes to win games? This is not always the case. Go Long, written by Tiki and Ronde Barber, and Paul Mantell, is about a football team that struggles to play as a team, and has a quarterback that needs to learn that attitude is just as important as skill. Tiki and Ronde Barber are identical twins that play football for their school the Hidden Valley Eagles. The team's best quarterback, Matt Clayton, is graduating and the team's coach is moving to another school. The new coach is Mr Wheeler who is actually a history teacher, not a coach. The new quarterback is Cody Hansen who has a lot of skill, but a very bad attitude and thinks he can be a one man show. The Eagles lose the first two games of the season because Cody is arguing with other players and the coaches. They will now struggle to make the playoffs. Mr. Wheeler has to set Cody straight and boldly points out that Cody has proven that he can not win a game by himself. His skills alone are not enough, and he needs to start respecting and working with his team. In the end, Cody puts his ego aside, works with his team, and leads them to the victory.

The authors Tiki and Ronde Barber are retired NFL players. They have first hand experience about what is needed to make a successful team. It's a good book about team work and positive attitude. You have to respect your teammates, not compete against them to show you are better. I have played on a lot different sports teams, and a few of them have had players like Cody. Those teams are not fun to play for, and the season is usually disappointing. That is why one of my favorite parts of the book is when Ronde stands up to Cody and says "Cody my friend, you've got all the skills but you have a lot to learn." Ronde recognizes Cody for his superior skills, but isn't afraid to point out that he isn't perfect. His weakness is his big ego and negative attitude. I would recommend this book to all young athletes playing any type of team sport. It is easy to read, the characters are interesting, and it has a good message that every athlete should be reminded of from time to time.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by the Barber brothers and someone else, this book and the others in the series, feature Tiki and Ronde as fictionalized boys on their middle school football team when they were still scrawny and learning the game. In this one they lose their beloved coach and their quarterback and have to adjust to both the new coach's style and the new quarterback who is conceited and unwilling to work with the coach and team. Although the writing is amateurish I still got into the book because the story and the message of how to build a team is so good. I'm tempted to read the others..

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that Go Long is a great book. The Hidden Valley Eagles

[Dylan Eagon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently finished reading the book Go Long. Ronde and Tiki Barber are brothers that play for their high school football team. One conflict is that the team lost their head coach and quarterback. The new coach doesn't look like he knows what he is doing and the new quarterback is a rookie with no experience. Cody the new quarterback is not a team player and blames everything on his teammates even if they are his mistakes. Ronde and Tiki are the leaders of the team and need to continue what the team had last year. They want to get their new coach a championship.

What I liked about the book is that Ronde and Tiki needed to help their teammates up when they were down. Cody was making negative comments about his teammates. Ronde and Tiki made that stop. I didn't like that they lost their quarterback. Cody brought so much negativity to the team, but before him Matt was the opposite of him. If I could change anything about the book it would be that there is another person that stands up. The Barber brothers were the only ones on the team that stood up to other kids.

Anyone that is interested in football or loves playing sports this is the book for them. This book has very realistic events that I think happen all the time with teams. That is who I would recommend read this book.

[rcurran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Go Long is about 2 boys named Tiki and Ronde Barber who both play for their middle school football team. They are excited to begin the new year of football, but are not sure about the teams new quarterback named Cody Hansen. Cody loves to showboat, and he thinks that he is the best player on the team. He blames everyone but himself when the teams doesn't win, even though he makes most of the mistakes. Another problem with the team is that the kids don't know what to think of the new coach, Sam Wheeler, or his coaching methods, that the kids aren't used to. They wonder if he can be a coach that can lead them all the way to a championship. Reading this book made me think of the bad news bears. The bad news bears were not a team at all, and they fought with each other every chance that they got. The eagles fight with each other because of Cody, who is a bossy quarterback who isn't a good leader. I would definitely recommend this book, because it shows that to win, the team must work together, and if you lose, you should not get upset about it because as long as you work together, you can accomplish anything. It also shows that you should not question someone by the looks of them, like the kids did to Coach Wheeler because that could know more than you expect. Fans of Books from Mike Lupica are sure to love this book.

[Matthew Ojeda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The final book in the series where Tiki and Ronde start their 8th grade year. They are ready to take the field as starters this year, but when the coach upsets the entire team when he announces that he is moving up to coach the high school team. The players nervously await the naming of their new coach. It is a surprise to all of them when their history teacher, Mr. Wheeler, is given the job. He is a terrific teacher, but that doesn't guarantee anything about his coaching skills. I really enjoyed this book because it is the last one and it went out with a bang for me. The one thing that I did not like is that this is it for the story of Tiki and Ronde Barber.

[Zach Jaccarino]

This book is a pretty good book that is inspired by two twin brothers that made a whole lot out of their life by using teamwork and perseverance. I would recommend this book for kids ages eight and up. The deeper meaning of this book is that if you get put in a situation like in the book where you get a new coach right before the season you need to work as a team and still find a way to win. I can relate this into my life because I have been put on a team where I barely knew anyone on the team and I did not think we were gonna be very good. But we ended up working as a team and won a few tournaments.

[Chase D]

I like this book because it has football and drama in it. I didn't like this one boy in the book called Cody Hansen because one he bragged to much, and two he thought that he was a football all-star. Tiki and Ronde are the authors and main characters of this book. They are identical twins who think the same thing and are in the 7th grade.. Their mom is always egging them on and always tells gives them good advice. The only central conflict in this book is they don't have the same coach for football that they won the championship with last year. In conclusion if you ask me I would give this book a 4.5 or 5 stars.

[Farhana Faruq · Rating 5 out of 5]

My nephew suggested I read this. It's for younger children ages 7 and up..but he still enjoys it at 11 years and I can understand why! I absolutely loved the story!! It's a fictional story based on the twins, Tiki and Ronde Barber (currently retired football players) and their love of football when they were younger.

You need to have a slight understanding of the game to enjoy all the plays. The book is well written and moves at a fast enough pace to keep you interested.

One of my favorite reads, look forward to reading more.

[MaryJane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is probably the first football book I ever read, but I keep looking for materials that my middle school students will read with some measure of enjoyment, and I was unfamiliar with the authors, who as it turns out are famous football players. This book is lively and moves right along, not overly complicated - just right for some of the boy "reluctant readers". I am adding this title, as well as Wild Card by the same authors, to the "fall line-up" at the Kodiak Middle School Library.

[Garrett O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Go Long!
Ronde Barber

I really enjoined this book its about Ronde and Tiki and how they start on there 8th grade football team and they try to accomplish the journey of going to the state championship game.

[Koqua · Rating 3 out of 5]

i liked this book.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book for boys who love football. It has good characters and a good message. My 11 year old liked it and we are reading the next book now.

[Eliaspena]

I like this book because it is like when my brothers where in football in there where the best ones in that football team.

[Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like all these books. There all really good but not my favriot.

[Mason]

In the story, Go Long tinky and ronde who are now NFL stars were struggling in school but also wanted to play football but it was hard for tinkey and ronde to play football with bad grades so it shows them that you have to have good grades to play on the school football team. But when the coach leaves to go to the high school team, the science teacher becomes the new coach and than the team lost many games in a row but in that time period tinky gets his grades Bach up to being go so he than could play on the team. After many games that have been scores like 28-0 or 34-0 they got better and better and the scores ended up being 21-17 or 28-21, they were still losses but they were bound to win. They were getting better just at the Wright time. They were in last place so they had to play the first place team in the playoffs. They ended up winning 21-24. Than they kept going and going and they won the championship with the science teacher as the coach so this showed that you can do anything with a little positivity. So this book is a great book in my opinion. I like how it can relate to many people’s life and how it shows problems and how he deals/solves problems. Right now I am at where they are in the championship game. Great book to read.

[Marcus.Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that it was a good book. I play football and I read about a football book and it was good. I play the same positions as Tiki and Ronde. One day they made a mistake in a game and the QB yelled at them after a while they got really mad. Their coach told the QB Cody 3 times to stop and he finally did they finished their season with the champion ship and Cody says I think you guys are awesome!

[Tristan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't keep me interested and i hated it.

[Antoine · Rating 5 out of 5]

It a good book and cool talks about football and I love football. This book inspires me to go. all the way up.

[Jeffrey Pollard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book, even for a 24 year old. It was an extremely easy but good read. Would definitely recommend to young athletes and young leaders alike.

[Graysen Drezek]

This was a good book, i liked when the new coach made the quarterback act like a team player not just a one man player or kept putting the team down. When he would say things to the other players like why didn't you catch that it was right to you, but he knew it really wasn't, that made me mad because everyone on that team was good not just him.

[Jerrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Especially if you love the sport football. (:

[Kirk H · Rating 3 out of 5]

i think the was good because it about football and i like foot ball.

[Liamd]

this book was a really good book and i think everyone should go read this book