Toby Wheeler: Eighth-Grade Benchwarmer

by Thatcher Heldring

TOBY WHEELER LOVES basketball and playing pickup games at the local rec center. No coaches, no practices, just nonstop action with his best friend, JJ, at his side. But lately JJ's been acting like he's too busy for Toby, and Toby knows it will only get worse once basketball season begins at their junior high. That's because JJ is the star of their school team, while Toby is just an ordinary gym rat.When Coach Applewhite offers Toby a chance to join the team, Toby's eager to prove he can keep up with JJ. But then the coach announces the lineup, and Toby's hopes of playing ball with JJ are he's an eighthgrade benchwarmer! Befriending the coach's daughter only makes matters worse. Now the only way Toby will get in the game is if he starts thinking like a team player, on and off the court.

Genres: Sports, Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Basketball, Fiction

226 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Toby Wheeler, Eighth-Grade Benchwarmer" is about eighth grader Toby Wheeler, who is a benchwarmer after joining his school's basketball team. And I just realized I stated the same thing twice in that first sentence. Moving on, Toby has more than just that problem to deal with. His best friend JJ has been growing apart from him, preferring to play guitar and hang out with his strange group of friends then shooting hoops with Toby. And the coach's daughter, Megan, is seemingly beggining to fall for him. As one of Toby's friends said, that is simply "suicide". To survive all these issues Toby will have to be a team player, on, and off the court.

I wasn't expecting much when I first picked up this book. It was recomended reading, so why not? But, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The characters are believable to a point, the plot is crisp and simple, and the basketball action is good. However, sometimes I felt the dialogue was coming from fifth graders, not eighth graders. And maybe if I was a bigger fan of basketball I would've given this book four stars, but meh. A good and easy read though, escpecially for unmotivated pre-teen boys.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son loved this book in elementary school. It's a staple on our shelves, still, and the cover is worn almost to shreds. As he tried out for the school team in third grade and didn't make it, I think there was something comforting about reading the story of an older boy facing a similar struggle. We highly recommend this one!

[Ingrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hilarious, heart stopping, pulse racing showstopper. I was on the verge of hooting, crying, and laughing. Eighth grade misfit toby wheeler, gym rat, finally pursues his goal of joining the school basketball team, and tagging alongside his allstar best friend Jj , he expects the tryouts to be a piece of cake while all the more hanging with his pal. But let old friends out and in with new friends cuz that isnt exactly whats planned out for toby when his friend backs out on him and the team or what toby expects when hes nominated benchwarmer.....and he must try to make his gym bet with vinny presto vivid on the court as it was as the public turf center. So will he hive or hit?

[Drew Gregory]

Its a great book

[Ryan Rotenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the book "Toby Wheeler" by Thatcher Heldring. The book is about an 8th grade boy named Toby who plays on his school basketball team. The problem is he is the 12th man, or the benchwarmer. The book talks about his struggle to figure out his place on the team and how he can help them. Then there is the coach's daughter Megan who plays on the girls team. He likes her, but doesn't want the coach to be mad and affect his chances of playing. The team revolves around one player named JJ, and the others try to figure out how to deal with that. It all comes down to winning the championship game against Hamilton. Will they or won't they? and will Toby ever get to play in a game?

I really liked this book. It is about basketball, which I love to play. It's also about a boy in middle school who just wants to make his school team and win the championship. I wouldn't change anything about this book, I really liked how it ended.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves basketball - boys or girls. I would also recommend it to kids in middle school because there are other situations in the book that kids in middle school can relate to. This book seems pretty realistic to being on a middle school basketball team.

[Michael Falujo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book because I really like basketball. I saw it on the shelf so I decided to pick it up. I started reading the book and started to enjoy the book. It is about a boy named Toby Wheeler, overcoming the transition from pick up game to actually team basketball. He had some difficulties in the way such as showing Vinny Pesto he can play team ball and thinks coach daughter, Megan, likes him and some of his teammates gave him bad advice because Megan is the coach's daughter. He proved himself in practice that he is ready to contribute to the team. It is a good book and I can recommend this book to anyone that likes baseball

[Cayson Susigan]

Eighth grade bench warmer bye toby wheeler

Eight grade bench warmer is about an eighth grader that wants to play basketball. It starts off with him wanting to join a basketball team, so he tries out and he makes the team, and he is not that great, so he is always on the bench and his teammates made fun of him so he never had courage, so his team was always losing do too how bad they were so they was 7 and 0 and not going to the finals when they was on their last game and they was tied and it was there ball and toby took the shot on the three pointer line and he blacked out but he made it. Overall, it was a delightful book and I recommend reading it

[Heidi Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a 72-year-old grandmother, I picked up this book intending to skim a few chapters to see if it might appeal to my middle-school-age grandsons. I couldn't put it down. It's entertaining, and it captures all the middle school feels. It addresses adolescent insecurities in a relatable and uplifting way.

[Hailey Dobbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I personally, am in the eighth grade and love basketball. I am a girl, so I could relate to all the characters very well, especially Megan Applewhite. This is a great book for anyone that enjoys sports and a good story. It's also great for book reports or projects.

[Jack The Man · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was kinda bad ngl, but its a basketball book so it deserves some stars

[Mrs. Hickey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great basketball story.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is a story about true friendship, and a place where nobody is special than the other at basketball. This book is called Toby Wheeler Eighth-Grade Benchwarmer by Thatcher Heldring. This story Toby Wheeler Eighth-Grade Benchwarmer is about an boy named Toby who was hoping to be as popular as JJ his best frien at basket ball. When a new coach called Coach Applewhite offers Toby a chance to be in the basket ball team he happily accepts this offer hoping to be as good as JJ. However, his hopes all are erased when he becomes the 12th one the Benchwarmer.

JJ isn a boy who is embarrased suddenly by what Toby his best friend says while he is around cool friends who thinks Toby isn't cool. For example, in the first chapter of this book JJ was with his "cool" friends such as Valerie, and the Toby comes along hoping to Trick O' Treat with JJ like they usually do. However, JJ doesn't want to come, and is embarrased at what Toby says because his friends think Trick O' Treating is only for babies. Another time JJ was emabarassed around Toby was when Toby said that he thinks JJ is a fool to hang with Valerie completely doing nothing or playing the guitar for her. JJ was embarassed because both Valerie, and his other cool friend was right there listening to what Toby said. JJ was also a liar because one timehe said to Toby since JJ wasn't spending time with him. JJ promised that he would playone on one basketball with him. However, when he got to JJ's house Valerie, and her friend was already there making JJ teach her basket ball. So, Toby couldn't play with JJ anymore.

I think this book is an marvelous book which teaches us that even if you are popular you will be treated like other students by the teachers. For example, when JJ who is the best basketball player in the team missed a few basket ball games Coach Applewhite told JJ that he couldn't play a few games anymore, and when JJ depended on his team for help they agreed with Coach Applewhite. This proved to me that even a popular basket ball player doesn't always have his way like they usually want to. Another thing I learned is that bench warmers can also become an perfect player. For example when Toby started playing in the games he sometimes shot hoops, and got them in just like an famous basket ball player should be able to do. This also proved to me hat Toby had courage to do something he was afraid to do.

This book is a great story who tells you about true friendship, and people who lie to there friends. People who are interested in reading basket ball or fast amazing stories then you should read this book Toby Wheeler Eighth-Grade Benchwarmer. This book is an excellent breath taking book one time you can be screaming while the other time you can be weeping softly. This book got me so interested I blocked everything else in this world.

[Oliver S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the book Toby Wheeler, Eighth-Grade Benchwarmer by Thatcher Heldring. The book is about a kid named Toby, who loves to play basketball. He decides to join the middle school basketball team. He thought it was going to be easy, but it turned out not to be he was the 12th man or the benchwarmer. They started the season with 0-3 record. They ended the season making the playoffs and they made it all the way to the championship game. McKlusky, Toby’s teammate, made the game winning shot, for the win.
I like how the author left off some of the chapters with cliffhangers because it made me want to read more. At the end of chapter 5, the author ended it with a cliffhanger, which was “Later that night I got a message back: It won’t be like the rec center.” There was another cliffhanger at the end of chapter 7, it was “If Megan had a reason to be nervous about her dad, didn’t I?” The last cliffhanger I had found was at the end of chapter 14, which was “You’ve done it now, Toby. I tried to warn you. But you’ve done it now.” The 3 cliffhangers I found really wanted me to keep reading
I would recommend this book for anybody that likes basketball and kids in the grade level from 4th to 7th grade. I think people that like basketball would like it because it is a good basketball story about a kid that wasn’t good but made good basketball improvement. I also think 4th to 7th graders would like it because they can relate with things that go on during the book like, how people can be mean to you and with what Toby goes through. One thing that I didn’t really like about the book is that there is no follow up about what happens after the championship game and what else happens to him

[Ilesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

a. Realistic Fiction
b. 211 pages
c. This book by Thatcher Heldring is about an eight grader named Toby Wheeler. Toby's father works for Landover Lumber Company which sells wood chips. His mother is trying to stop the cutting of trees so they have occasional arguments. At the beginning of the book, Toby's best friend is JJ. JJ is an amazing basketball player; the best on the Pilchuck basketball team. A little deeper in the book, JJ gets a girlfriend and starts ignoring Toby. This makes Toby join their school basketball team to spend more time with JJ. Toby had never played in intense basketball leagues; only rec-leagues. On the first day of practice, he realized how out of shape he was and eventually became the 12th man on the team. Toby's rival is a kid named Vinny Pesto. Vinny always beats Toby when they play street basketball. Before the first practice, Toby brags to Vinny that he is on a real team and that when they play each other Toby will make a game winning shot in Vinny's face. Since Toby is the 12th man, he doesn't play much and is very worried that Vinny will see him at the end of the bench and never stop making fun of him. Now, Toby has to work extra hard just to not be a benchwarmer.
d. I liked this book because the plot was very interesting. There were several cliff-hangers. There was also a quote from Phil Jackson about how great the book was which got me interested at the beginning. I also liked it because there was basketball in it I basketball is my favorite sport. Overall, I liked this book because it was very suspenseful.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Julie M. Prince for TeensReadToo.com

Life is simple. Toby Wheeler is just a gym rat playing pickup ball at the rec center with his best buddy JJ. But, things seem different lately. JJ is spending more and more time with his new friends instead of Toby.

Determined to hang onto his buddy, Toby joins the school's basketball team at the encouragement of the new coach. Maybe this way, he'll get to see more of JJ, since he's a basketball star. But, it seems like the only person Toby is seeing more of is the coach's daughter, Megan.

Other players on the team are encouraging Toby to stay away from Coach's daughter if he wants to be anything but a benchwarmer. This seems like good advice, except that Megan is the only girl he can talk to without turning into a clumsy, awkward fool.

This debut novel will definitely score with its readers, as Toby is just the kind of clueless but lovable character that middle-schoolers are sure to identify with. He navigates everything from losing friends and figuring out how to deal with girls to relearning things he thought he already knew.

Basketball fans will get their fair share of trash talk when Toby faces off against his rival, Vinny Pesto, on the court and off. Toby may be clueless in some areas, but when the clock runs down, he knows it's time to take a shot.

Heldring's style is easy and fun to read. I look forward to more books by this fabulous new author!

[Charlie J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eight-Grade Bench warmer by Toby Wheeler, is an inspirational book to people who love something, but may not be the best, or get many opportunities to prove themselves. The main character is Toby Wheeler, who is the star on the team. With or without coaches, teammates, friends, or even family, he is always at the rec center practicing. Most of the time he and his friend J.J are there playing pickup 1 on 1 games. And if you didn't know, J.J is the star athlete on the team. Toby Wheeler decides to join his middle school basketball team only to become a bench warmer. He only joined the basketball team to spend more time with his friend J.J. When he goes to the team practice he expects to immediately become a starter or sixth man, but he ends up becoming the 12th man. In the beginning of the season he was always at the end of the bench and never got to play, but as time went on his role increased and he started playing more. On page 200, it says "We cant win it with out him." Referring to Toby Wheeler. I picked this quote because this shows to anyone who isnt a star athlete, that if you aren't the best at one time, hard work and dedication can lead your self to have the ability to show what your are really made of. In Toby's case it is being a 12th man bench warmer to the player who everyone believes in and trust. His team eventually won the championship at the end of the season.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As sports books go, this one was refreshing. No locker-room humor or mere play-by-play of a game here to bog the book down, but genuine characters who felt authentic. Granted, this book is for basketball fans and is so jam-packed with basketball slang and terminology that the uninitiated might feel lost in the action, but the tried-and-true young basketball fan will feel right at home. I'll admit I didn't always know what was going on in the game scenes because of the terminology, but since I care more about the characters than the action, I didn't mind.

Toby Wheeler and his friends are at a time in their lives where many things are changing. The things they used to do for fun suddenly aren't anymore and the friends they stuck with in the past are growing distant. Toby is a gym-rat who feels more at home with the one-on-one playground game, but when his best friend starts pulling away from him, he joins the school team to stay friends. All doesn't go as planned when JJ is the star of the team and Toby ends up riding the bench...

Bonus: the girl in the story isn't simply a potential crush for one of the boys but is an athlete in her own right. Toby Wheeler tells a good story and also gives some lessons about being the 12th man on the bench without sounding like an after-school special.

[Murphy F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toby Wheeler 8th Grade Bench warmer by Thatcher Heldring. This book is about Toby Wheeler, he's in 8th grade and he loves to play basketball for fun. This year he joins a real team and he thinks it's gonna be easy but he's the benchwarmer and he doesn't get to play. They lost their first 3 games of the season but they won the rest and made the playoffs. At the end of the season he starts to play a little and he gets put in at the end of the championship game and he helps them get the game winning shot.
The author is really good at using cliffhangers on page 35 it says “Later that night I got a message back: it won't be like the rec center”. This made me want to keep reading. Another example is “Was I going to get a basketball detention? Or getting a private lesson?” (p.136). My last example is “It was all coming together. And the JJ disappeared.” (p.168). These all made me keep reading it.
I would recommend this book to 5th through 8th graders that like or play basketball and that like good stories. I liked this book because I liked the story and how Toby never gave up. I also liked it because it wasn't confusing at all. The ending was really good and it was my favorite part because Toby and JJ became friends again and they won the championship game. There is other books like this that the author made but with different sports I would recommend those too.

[Chris Chesney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toby Wheeler:Eight Grade Benchwarmers takes place mostly on a basketball court at the rec center and at his schools basketball team. Toby does not like being a benchwarmer and all the other people effect him because he wants to play.
Toby wheeler is the main character and he has a friend named JJ but JJ got new friends and no longer hangs out with Toby so Toby thought if he joined tthe basketball team he would be able to see him more, so he mentioned it to JJ and JJ said it was nothing like the rec center. So Toby joined the team and hasn't played yet.
Toby joins the basketball team and they have a game. Toby's enemy, vinny pesto is on the team and Toby told vinny that he would shoot the winning shot right in vinny's face. Well that didn't happen. Toby embarrassed the team.
The authors message is to keep trying and never give up no matter how bad you mess up. Because Toby keeps trying on the basketball team and he keeps screwing up.
If you like basketball you will most likely enjoy this book. This book is is kind of boring but interesting. This book will teach you to never give up. This book is realistic fiction which means it could happen but it didn't.

[Ignatius Mudoh · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a simple underdog story involving one boy's leap from gym rat to first class. Toby Wheeler is not very good at basketball, but his friend JJ is, when he joins the basketball team only to prove a point to his "archrival" Jimmy Pesto, he finds that JJ has his own circle of friends that he cannot easily fit in with. While serving as the team benchwarmer Toby finds his voice and realizes that JJ is simply taking advantage of him, despite their former relationship as kids. Toby also, in the story befriends his coaches daughter, Megan and fights through a wave of complications and uncertainties, but she teaches him to help his team in any way he can, transforming Toby from benchwarmer, to pine rider. Honestly, I didn't enjoy this book because of the lack of purpose, even though there were conflicts addressed and problems that were expressed through this story the book and what I think it represented couldn't appeal to me. Heldring, the author especially let me down by leaving out the detail needed to describe a basketball showdown time and time again. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a story that has an underdog theme which confronts underlying topics.

[Vardan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought the book "Toby Wheeler: Eight-Grade Benchwarmer" by Thatcher Heldring because I wanted to find some advices for school basketball teams. This book is about a pretty talented boy, Toby, who makes his school's basketball team but does not receive any playing time which makes him a benchwarmer. Throughout the book, Toby pushes his body to limits during practices to hopefully play during games. My favorite quote in this book was, "I'm a pine-rider, and I am proud." I like that quote because pine-rider is just a fancy way of saying benchwarmer but Toby accepts it because even if he is a pine-rider, he was skilled enough to make the team. I highly respect the author's writing style. The reason for that is because the chapters are divided in a way to lure people to keep reading by leaving the interesting parts in the following chapter. I would most certainly recommend this book to all the middle-school aged kids. Mostly because Toby's story encouraged me to work harder and live by a motto which is, "If I am not practicing, someone else out there IS, and they are getting better than me."

[Int'l librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is predictable and tolerable, as sports stories go. My favorite aspect – the details of the motion offense that the author weaves into the action. And this is an 8th grade team? The Chuckers are embarrassing my own sense of coaching talent.

My least favorite aspect? That’s a longer list. At one point Toby wants to curb the potential affection of stereotypical great-sport friend-girl Megan. He manages to blast apart any hope for Megan as a "girlfriend", and of course he gets immediately upset about that. Argh, guess who still might get together. And there’s too much false-note locker-room posturing dialogue.

At the games, Toby is the 12th man on the team, but somehow the 7th-10th players disappear, so Coach can turn to Toby with the game on the line. And if a player picks up a loose ball and then dribbles the length of the court, it can't be cherry-picking. Maybe I’m cherry-picking my complaints here, but I don’t think so.

[Sdilworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toby Wheeler is an eighth grade boy that loves to play basketball with his best friends JJ and Megan. JJ is going to tryout for the eighth grade basketball team. Toby is one of the biggest gym rats in Pilchuck. A gym rat is a person who doesn’t play basketball for a school team or a travel time.




When Toby was playing basketball he noticed this guy staring at him from the sidelines and at the end of the game the guy came up to him and said I am the new coach for eighth grade basketball team you should come and tryout for the team. Toby said, ok I will be there for tryouts. The reason why he was going to tryouts was because he wanted to be with JJ. JJ has been ditching Toby because he found some new friends that are trying out for the basketball team.


I recommend reading the Eighth Grade Benchwarmer, to anyone that loves to watch or play basketball, and that believes if you try your best you can accomplish anything you want.

[Joel Senaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very nice in my opinion. It tells you how life is as an athlete in eight grade. The main character wasn't the best in it either. It help you see how life is working from the bottom to the top. Toby loved basketball so much ,but his best friend thought he was losing him. Toby was good ,but he wasn't an team player. This connects to me cause I like to play basketball myself. I wasn't at good at first ,but now I'm an star player on my travel team. I think this writing is powerful because it can inspire people to never give up. Even though there people against you. The main character Toby had to learn to give time to his social life and the sport. I think the reader will appreciate this book because if you play a sport it can help you. Negative parts of the book is that there not enough detail or descriptions of the characters in the book.

[Connor Benson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toby Wheeler Eighth-Grade Benchwarmer by Thatcher Heldring is a real page turner. I have nothing negative to say about the book. I really like how the author kept me on my toes. The book was an easy read, no really hard words to understand. I really liked this book and it had a good plot.

Toby loves basketball. It is just that he does not play on an organized team. He plays pickup games with some of the people at the local rec center. He is not the only person he know there, he is usually with his best friend, JJ. Throughout the book there friendship fades. One day when they were the new coach cam the the rec center to watch, JJ. When he saw Toby, he gave him a invitation to join the team. Read the book to find out the rest.

I recommend this book to middle schoolers and people that like basketball. All in all great book.

[Ms. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a about a boy named Toby who experiences how to be a real basketball player other than playing pickup ball at the recreation center. He finds out he is one of the 2 benchwarmers, he learns that he should still always be ready to play even if he does not play as much as his teammates. I learned three things. First, you should always try your best at anything. Second, You should not let your friends down. And third, I learned that you should not be a quitter.

[Korin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book a few weeks ago and I loved it. I can kind of relate. Toby friend diss him with his girlfriend and her brother. His family have certain problems. Toby makes new friends while on the basketball team. But was on the team so he could be closer to his friend but the opposite and he learns to play, makes new friends, is with the coach daughter, and the teams new beholder. I like this book you can relate even if you haven't been in Toby's shoes.

[Rio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toby Wheeler, a basketball god in his mind, is friends with JJ, a basketball god in everyone else's mind. Can their friendship survive a rough start to the season? Girlfriends? Junior High cliques? Will he sink the winning basket over the outstretched hands of archrival Vinny Pesto? Finally, can he summon up the courage to ask out the coach's daughter? You'll have to read this and see.

[Riley/Radford · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book had me hooked it wasn't like most other sports books it had feeling and emotions between two friends and even a little romance. But overall it was a pretty awesome book.

[Terrence.712 · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is one of the best basketball books.