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Touchdown for Tommy
A young boy worries about making the football team and convincing his foster parents to adopt him.
145 pages, Paperback
First published October 30, 1959
11 people are currently reading
149 people want to read
About the author
Matt Christopher
435 books141 followersMatt Christopher is the writer young readers turn to when they're looking for fast-paced, action-packed sports novels. He is the best-selling author of more than one hundred sports books for young readers.
Matt Christopher is America's bestselling sports writer for children, with more than 100 books and sales approaching six million copies. In 1992, Matt Christopher talked about being a children's book author.
"I became interested in writing when I was 14, a freshman in high school. I was selling magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Country Gentleman, and Liberty, and I would read the stories, particularly the adventure and mystery stories, and think how wonderful it would be to be able to write stories and make a living at it. I also read detective, horror, aviation, and sports stories and decided I would try writing them myself.
Determined to sell, I wrote a detective story a week for 40 weeks, finding the time to marry, work, and play baseball and basketball before I sold my first story in 1941, "The Missing Finger Points," for $50 to Detective Story magazine.
After writing and selling children's sports stories to magazines, I decided to write a baseball book for children. I was living in Syracuse, New York at the time, working at General Electric. I spoke about my idea to the branch librarian. She was immediately interested and told me that they needed sports stories badly. So I came up with my first children's book, The Lucky Baseball Bat. I submitted it to Little, Brown, and the book was published in 1954.
I'm sure that playing sandlot baseball and then semiprofessional baseball with a Class C club in the Canadian-American League influenced my writing. I had my own personal experiences, and I saw how other players reacted to plays, to teammates' and fans' remarks and innuendoes, to managers' orders, etc. All these had a great influence on my writing. My love of the game helped a lot, too, of course.
Out of all the books I've written, my favorite is The Kid Who Only Hit Homers. It's a fantasy, but the main character in it could be real. There are a lot of boys who would love to play baseball but, for some reason, cannot. The only difference between a real-life boy and Sylvester Coddmyer III is the appearance of a character named George Baruth, whom only Sylvester can see and who helps Sylvester become a good ballplayer.
I've written many short stories and books for both children and adults, and find that writing for children is really my niche. Being the eldest of nine children (seven boys and two girls), I've lived through a lot of problems many children live through, and I find these problems excellent examples to include in my books.
Sports have made it possible for me to meet many people with all sorts of life stories, on and off the field, and these are grist for this writer's mill. I'm far beyond playing age now, but I manage to go to both kids' and adult games just to keep up with them, and keep them fresh in my mind.Very few things make me happier than receiving fan letters from boys and girls who write that they had never cared for reading until they started to read my books. That is just about the ultimate in writing for children. I would never trade it for another profession."
Matt Christopher died on September 27, 1997. His legacy is now being carried on by his sons, Duane and Dale Christopher.
Matt Christopher is America's bestselling sports writer for children, with more than 100 books and sales approaching six million copies. In 1992, Matt Christopher talked about being a children's book author.
"I became interested in writing when I was 14, a freshman in high school. I was selling magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Country Gentleman, and Liberty, and I would read the stories, particularly the adventure and mystery stories, and think how wonderful it would be to be able to write stories and make a living at it. I also read detective, horror, aviation, and sports stories and decided I would try writing them myself.
Determined to sell, I wrote a detective story a week for 40 weeks, finding the time to marry, work, and play baseball and basketball before I sold my first story in 1941, "The Missing Finger Points," for $50 to Detective Story magazine.
After writing and selling children's sports stories to magazines, I decided to write a baseball book for children. I was living in Syracuse, New York at the time, working at General Electric. I spoke about my idea to the branch librarian. She was immediately interested and told me that they needed sports stories badly. So I came up with my first children's book, The Lucky Baseball Bat. I submitted it to Little, Brown, and the book was published in 1954.
I'm sure that playing sandlot baseball and then semiprofessional baseball with a Class C club in the Canadian-American League influenced my writing. I had my own personal experiences, and I saw how other players reacted to plays, to teammates' and fans' remarks and innuendoes, to managers' orders, etc. All these had a great influence on my writing. My love of the game helped a lot, too, of course.
Out of all the books I've written, my favorite is The Kid Who Only Hit Homers. It's a fantasy, but the main character in it could be real. There are a lot of boys who would love to play baseball but, for some reason, cannot. The only difference between a real-life boy and Sylvester Coddmyer III is the appearance of a character named George Baruth, whom only Sylvester can see and who helps Sylvester become a good ballplayer.
I've written many short stories and books for both children and adults, and find that writing for children is really my niche. Being the eldest of nine children (seven boys and two girls), I've lived through a lot of problems many children live through, and I find these problems excellent examples to include in my books.
Sports have made it possible for me to meet many people with all sorts of life stories, on and off the field, and these are grist for this writer's mill. I'm far beyond playing age now, but I manage to go to both kids' and adult games just to keep up with them, and keep them fresh in my mind.Very few things make me happier than receiving fan letters from boys and girls who write that they had never cared for reading until they started to read my books. That is just about the ultimate in writing for children. I would never trade it for another profession."
Matt Christopher died on September 27, 1997. His legacy is now being carried on by his sons, Duane and Dale Christopher.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 14, 2019
Since this was the first Football Book Matt Christopher wrote I wanted to dive into it right away. In the story Tommy Fletcher who was recently orphaned learned his step-father was coaching a Midget League Football team and by joining and playing well he hoped that would make the Powell's want to
adopt him. There were moments he was worried about being sent somewhere else when he almost lost a half dollar he found in the backyard while Mrs.Powell was hanging up the laundry, when he tripped a player which resulted in a penalty and when the person from the Children's Department came to talk to the Powell's. Despite all this he told them he wanted to be with them and during a game against the Bullets the Powell's came to him on the bench and said to him that they can adopt him now which lifted his spirits where he was able to do a pick 6 and win the game for the Pirates.This book was a thrill ride and Matt Christopher really put the detail and sports action in the book and I liked the ending where after he gave them his gifts Tommy received a cake that spelled Happy Birthday Son where he said he was happy to have a Mom and Dad again
adopt him. There were moments he was worried about being sent somewhere else when he almost lost a half dollar he found in the backyard while Mrs.Powell was hanging up the laundry, when he tripped a player which resulted in a penalty and when the person from the Children's Department came to talk to the Powell's. Despite all this he told them he wanted to be with them and during a game against the Bullets the Powell's came to him on the bench and said to him that they can adopt him now which lifted his spirits where he was able to do a pick 6 and win the game for the Pirates.This book was a thrill ride and Matt Christopher really put the detail and sports action in the book and I liked the ending where after he gave them his gifts Tommy received a cake that spelled Happy Birthday Son where he said he was happy to have a Mom and Dad again
June 10, 2024
I am not a fan of sports books, neither am I a fan of football, but I am a fan of children's literature, so that is how I am going to judge this.
It's bad.
When I say that, I am not talking about the choppy repetitious writing that was totally standard to children's books of the 1950s. This was largely due to the Dick and Jane model of Noun-Verb reading learning so common at the time. Neither was I affronted by the use of manufactured drama or simplistic two-track plot. Again, this was very standard.
Nope, I am talking about the fact that our hero - Tommy - is a psychopath.
Let's run the list:
1. In the first pages we learn that Tommy's parents both die in an unspecified accident. That is the only time they are ever mentioned, Page 1-2 Chapter One. They are never mentioned again. Tommy never thinks about them or allows their absence to affect him in any meaningful way except to regret that he used to get pocket cash when they were around. I suspect Tommy killed them. For the money.
2. Tommy reflexively and regularly ignores comments from other children that he is hurting them, and playing too rough. This seems to be his main interest in playing football, his chance to clip, hold, and trip other players.
3. I take that back. He does all of this so that he can feel good about himself when he scores, completes a crucial play, or hurts another player.
4. The only creature Tommy loves is the puppy he nearly kills, by accident, but still.
Meanwhile, Tommy's foster family are impossibly robotic 1950s familial stereotypes. Their shared lack of normal human feelings is, I suspect, why they are so determinedly dragging Tommy into their incredibly sterile existence. We are never given a convincing reason why otherwise they would foster one child for two years and then allow him to leave, but after only 6 months they feel an insatiable need to make the violence prone and unlikable Tommy theirs, forever.
This is a repellent little book, to which I will grant a 5/8th's additional point over the one star I feel it deserves, because it does try awfully hard to tell a story about foster families and adoption in a child friendly way in an age when that was kind of a taboo subject. So, yay, kind of edgy.
Tommy grew up to become a used car salesman after not making the varsity squad at this high school.
It's bad.
When I say that, I am not talking about the choppy repetitious writing that was totally standard to children's books of the 1950s. This was largely due to the Dick and Jane model of Noun-Verb reading learning so common at the time. Neither was I affronted by the use of manufactured drama or simplistic two-track plot. Again, this was very standard.
Nope, I am talking about the fact that our hero - Tommy - is a psychopath.
Let's run the list:
1. In the first pages we learn that Tommy's parents both die in an unspecified accident. That is the only time they are ever mentioned, Page 1-2 Chapter One. They are never mentioned again. Tommy never thinks about them or allows their absence to affect him in any meaningful way except to regret that he used to get pocket cash when they were around. I suspect Tommy killed them. For the money.
2. Tommy reflexively and regularly ignores comments from other children that he is hurting them, and playing too rough. This seems to be his main interest in playing football, his chance to clip, hold, and trip other players.
3. I take that back. He does all of this so that he can feel good about himself when he scores, completes a crucial play, or hurts another player.
4. The only creature Tommy loves is the puppy he nearly kills, by accident, but still.
Meanwhile, Tommy's foster family are impossibly robotic 1950s familial stereotypes. Their shared lack of normal human feelings is, I suspect, why they are so determinedly dragging Tommy into their incredibly sterile existence. We are never given a convincing reason why otherwise they would foster one child for two years and then allow him to leave, but after only 6 months they feel an insatiable need to make the violence prone and unlikable Tommy theirs, forever.
This is a repellent little book, to which I will grant a 5/8th's additional point over the one star I feel it deserves, because it does try awfully hard to tell a story about foster families and adoption in a child friendly way in an age when that was kind of a taboo subject. So, yay, kind of edgy.
Tommy grew up to become a used car salesman after not making the varsity squad at this high school.
January 31, 2022
The first Football Book Matt Christopher wrote and the story was absolutely incredible along with the incredible Football Action
October 20, 2011
I thought this was a great book because it is about football. This kid is in the foster home, and he gets adopted. He likes football, so they sign him up. He likes to be the tight end. Tommy was not too bad. He didn't know if he would stay with them, so he had a game and found out he is staying. Tommy had a good game. It would be a great book for anyone who likes football.
January 2, 2013
It was sad because Tommy was orphaned but it was happy when he made the football team. He learned to play right and you can't run right into people. Tommy suceeded and was allowed to live with the Powells. His family pushed him hard so he did well in school. The ending was happy, not sad like the beginning.
April 15, 2007
God, I really wanted to write these sorts of books when I was a kid. Where did I go wrong?
January 23, 2008
So good. I think the character was Tom Brady. No lie (OK, maybe a little one)
January 25, 2008
This continues to be my favorite book since Gradeschool -- I have read it multiple times since then and still love the story line!
November 8, 2009
My son likes the book but then he's biased for anything football related. I thought it oversimplistic but the book's not meant for my age group.
September 2, 2010
one of my favorite books from my childhood plus my nickname used to be touchdown tommy back in middle school
January 18, 2011
This is the first book I remember reading. I suspect it was 1st grade.
October 3, 2011
this book is very good and exciting
October 8, 2015
I liked this book because it was about football. It was about a kid who has no parents hes in foster care and is going to play football but none of the kids want him because he play to rough.
October 13, 2015
I thought The book had a good story line and it was about football I love football all in all the book had some good charters and it was the first book I have ever red on my own so I loved it
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews