What do you think?
Rate this book
The Benchwarmers #2
Game Changers
Trouble is about to tip off for Jeff and Andi’s sixth-grade basketball teams in Game Changers, a standalone second book in the middle-grade Benchwarmers series by #1 New York Times bestselling sportswriter John Feinstein.
After a controversial season playing on the boys' soccer team, Andi Carillo is ready to kick butt and take names on the girls' basketball team. Jeff Michaels, her best friend, is raring to drop his benchwarmer status from soccer and play a leading role on the boys' basketball squad. But between a coach's coded racism and a teammate's endless sabotage, neither Andi nor Jeff is in for a layup of a season. To make matters worse, the local media smells more than one juicy story. Will Andi and Jeff be able to power through and find a way to help both their teams rebound?
From sportswriting legend John Feinstein comes this fast-paced novel about two friends who are willing to risk it all to change the game—on and off the court.
After a controversial season playing on the boys' soccer team, Andi Carillo is ready to kick butt and take names on the girls' basketball team. Jeff Michaels, her best friend, is raring to drop his benchwarmer status from soccer and play a leading role on the boys' basketball squad. But between a coach's coded racism and a teammate's endless sabotage, neither Andi nor Jeff is in for a layup of a season. To make matters worse, the local media smells more than one juicy story. Will Andi and Jeff be able to power through and find a way to help both their teams rebound?
From sportswriting legend John Feinstein comes this fast-paced novel about two friends who are willing to risk it all to change the game—on and off the court.
- GenresSportsMiddle Grade
176 pages, Hardcover
Published August 25, 2020
About the author
John Feinstein
75 books605 followersJohn Feinstein was an American sportswriter, author, and sports commentator.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 31, 2026
I've read quite a few of the "sports" books aimed at middle schoolers ... back in the day, hoping to find ones my boys/reluctant readers would enjoy. Now, I have a #middlegradeMay challenge and I like to read books before I set them out in my LittleFreeLibrary. I had picked up a physical copy of this book. The library did not have an ebook ($12.99 Kindle purchase, more than I'm willing to pay) but Hoopla had the audio.
This was a bit of a struggle to start for me ... I went in knowing it was technically book 2 in a series, but it was labeled as a standalone story. I actually felt a little adrift, that I had missed the set up in book 1. There is enough talk about what happened (Andi and Jeff, soccer ... the team forced to let a girl on the team with news coverage. The kids starting on the bench, then getting in the game and becoming the star player) that technically I didn't "miss" much, in fact, I wondered if it would be repetitive for those who had read the first book (it was a little repetitive even for me). Still, I feel like maybe it would have been easier to get into this book, if I already "knew" Andi and Jeff, rather than coming in cold.
Mostly dual POV (although we do get at least one other, a teacher, for a chapter or two) ... 3rd person, past tense. It was a little jumpy, with the two storylines ... the girls team, the boys team. The majority of the drama was with the girl's team. The conflict was a bit muddled. The girl's coach, new to coaching, having an issue with Andi, and with a couple of the black girls (and Jews and others, racist views) doesn't come across well, yet is it also a good look for Andi to undermine the adult, get her fired, in part because she wasn't getting the playing time she wanted? It was interesting to see how many of the other adults/teachers supported the coach, even if they didn't support her views.
This felt very young ... the kids are 11. Other than a few words here and there (mundanity ... without having a Kindle copy for reference, I didn't get many noted) the story and the writing just seemed a little too simple for me (granted, not the target audience). The descriptions of the basketball plays were a little technical. Having watched my boys for years, I felt like I was okay following, but wondered if many would lose interest in the play by play.
Honestly, I almost gave up on this a few chapters in ... feeling like perhaps I should have read the first book, and just not really connecting to the characters and stories. But I stuck with it, and ended up interested in how things would turn out. Not one that I'd go out of my way to recommend (I'll put my copy out in the LFL) and I'm not interested in reading the other two books in the series (the first book's storyline being spoiled/told in this one ... and there is a tennis one after/book 3).
This was a bit of a struggle to start for me ... I went in knowing it was technically book 2 in a series, but it was labeled as a standalone story. I actually felt a little adrift, that I had missed the set up in book 1. There is enough talk about what happened (Andi and Jeff, soccer ... the team forced to let a girl on the team with news coverage. The kids starting on the bench, then getting in the game and becoming the star player) that technically I didn't "miss" much, in fact, I wondered if it would be repetitive for those who had read the first book (it was a little repetitive even for me). Still, I feel like maybe it would have been easier to get into this book, if I already "knew" Andi and Jeff, rather than coming in cold.
Mostly dual POV (although we do get at least one other, a teacher, for a chapter or two) ... 3rd person, past tense. It was a little jumpy, with the two storylines ... the girls team, the boys team. The majority of the drama was with the girl's team. The conflict was a bit muddled. The girl's coach, new to coaching, having an issue with Andi, and with a couple of the black girls (and Jews and others, racist views) doesn't come across well, yet is it also a good look for Andi to undermine the adult, get her fired, in part because she wasn't getting the playing time she wanted? It was interesting to see how many of the other adults/teachers supported the coach, even if they didn't support her views.
This felt very young ... the kids are 11. Other than a few words here and there (mundanity ... without having a Kindle copy for reference, I didn't get many noted) the story and the writing just seemed a little too simple for me (granted, not the target audience). The descriptions of the basketball plays were a little technical. Having watched my boys for years, I felt like I was okay following, but wondered if many would lose interest in the play by play.
Honestly, I almost gave up on this a few chapters in ... feeling like perhaps I should have read the first book, and just not really connecting to the characters and stories. But I stuck with it, and ended up interested in how things would turn out. Not one that I'd go out of my way to recommend (I'll put my copy out in the LFL) and I'm not interested in reading the other two books in the series (the first book's storyline being spoiled/told in this one ... and there is a tennis one after/book 3).
December 19, 2022
I read and loved the first book, Benchwarmers, so it was fun and easy to fall right back into the POVs of best friends Andi and Jeff -- but this time, for the middle school girls' and boys' basketball teams.
Andi's excited to try out for the 6th grade girls' basketball team. For one thing, the middle school has one. That's a step up from soccer, which in 6th grade only offered "field hockey" to girls! But being a trailblazer on the boys' soccer team has earned Andi the reputation -- before she ever meets her new basketball coach -- of being a media hound.
Which, to be fair, for a 6th grader, she kinda was.
But this time, her coach is blatantly racist and outright refuses to play Andi and her friends, three other girls of color. They are benchwarmers, game after game.
Jeff, on the other hand, is in a comfy position of having a boys' basketball coach he knows and likes. And he's good at his position, super good. But he still has to deal with the bully -- Arlow -- the same kid who tried his darnedest to drum Andi off the soccer team and perpetuated a climate of misogyny, instead of inclusiveness.
So why is coach starting Arlow on point instead of Jeff, routinely? Jeff guards against getting a bad attitude about it, but his coach's motives are a total mystery, especially when Jeff's clearly the better player. Even more frustratingly, Jeff is powerless to help Andi with her issues with the racist girls' basketball coach. Andi doesn't want Jeff to call his sportscaster dad to shine a light on the issue. Instead, she cooks up a plan…which I won't spoil!
Read to find out the ending. It's satisfying.
I'm hoping for a sequel. I know (from my two kiddos) there's two whole sports "seasons" left in the middle school year, so I hope Feinstein will tackle another Jeff and Andi tale in a whole new sport.
Looking for more book suggestions for your 7th/8th grade classroom and students?
Visit my blog, The Fabric of Words, for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
Andi's excited to try out for the 6th grade girls' basketball team. For one thing, the middle school has one. That's a step up from soccer, which in 6th grade only offered "field hockey" to girls! But being a trailblazer on the boys' soccer team has earned Andi the reputation -- before she ever meets her new basketball coach -- of being a media hound.
Which, to be fair, for a 6th grader, she kinda was.
But this time, her coach is blatantly racist and outright refuses to play Andi and her friends, three other girls of color. They are benchwarmers, game after game.
Jeff, on the other hand, is in a comfy position of having a boys' basketball coach he knows and likes. And he's good at his position, super good. But he still has to deal with the bully -- Arlow -- the same kid who tried his darnedest to drum Andi off the soccer team and perpetuated a climate of misogyny, instead of inclusiveness.
So why is coach starting Arlow on point instead of Jeff, routinely? Jeff guards against getting a bad attitude about it, but his coach's motives are a total mystery, especially when Jeff's clearly the better player. Even more frustratingly, Jeff is powerless to help Andi with her issues with the racist girls' basketball coach. Andi doesn't want Jeff to call his sportscaster dad to shine a light on the issue. Instead, she cooks up a plan…which I won't spoil!
Read to find out the ending. It's satisfying.
I'm hoping for a sequel. I know (from my two kiddos) there's two whole sports "seasons" left in the middle school year, so I hope Feinstein will tackle another Jeff and Andi tale in a whole new sport.
Looking for more book suggestions for your 7th/8th grade classroom and students?
Visit my blog, The Fabric of Words, for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
August 9, 2024
I did not read Book 1 and can confirm this is a standalone story. The first few chapters fill you in on anything that happened in the prior story & the characters are simple enough to where I don't feel I missed anything.
The book is split POV between Jeff and Andi. Andi is faced with a coach and teammates who immediately dislike her, and it turns out the coach is racist toward the non-white players, too. Jeff is dealing with a difficult teammate while also trying to help Andi from behind the scenes.
The action/gameplay in the book is well done, but for me, the writing was too on the nose, even from a middle-grade story. The characters are simple, and this is the same prejudice-is-bad message I hear in every story with nothing new. The story also sidelined Jeff hard. Very little in his plotline matters and his overall role in the story felt like a minor supporting character as opposed to a split protagonist.
The book is split POV between Jeff and Andi. Andi is faced with a coach and teammates who immediately dislike her, and it turns out the coach is racist toward the non-white players, too. Jeff is dealing with a difficult teammate while also trying to help Andi from behind the scenes.
The action/gameplay in the book is well done, but for me, the writing was too on the nose, even from a middle-grade story. The characters are simple, and this is the same prejudice-is-bad message I hear in every story with nothing new. The story also sidelined Jeff hard. Very little in his plotline matters and his overall role in the story felt like a minor supporting character as opposed to a split protagonist.
August 27, 2020
Ok so it is a YA book but Feinstein writes so very well and the story is full of heart. Read it.
October 7, 2020
Link to my book talk: https://youtu.be/Q3lGANI2CbA
February 12, 2021
Well written, but this book appeals more to middle schoolers.
April 27, 2023
Action packed basketball
September 15, 2025
Solid second book in the series, but it just lacks something that falls short of the first book.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews