Losers Bracket by Chris Crutcher

Crutcher, C. (2018). Losers bracket. NY: Greenwillow Press

Summary: Annie Boots is a great basketball player who loves the game but feels down and out with her family. While she is skilled in basketball, she has many issues with her family. Annie's father is absent from her life, her mother is a drug-addict, her sister is a 19 year old mother who has a 5 year old son who is very difficult to handle and has behavior issues. Annie is quickly placed in foster care with a wealthy family that provides her all that she needs. Her faster father, Pops, is reliving his glory days through Annie having been a ball player himself. Annie cares for her foster parents but gives them trouble when she refuses to stop helping and not giving up on her real family. Annie' nephew turns up missing from a swim meet one day and Annie tries to solve the mystery of where is went and who took him. Eventually the family finds out that Frankie was taken away from her sister and placed in foster care. The goal is to steal Frankie back from his placement. 

Strengths: Losers Bracket handles foster families really well. He explain the relationships between the members of the family and how they can work together or maintain conflict. Annie struggle throughout the book to handle the relationship between her real family and her foster family as well as dealing with her missing nephew. 

Book Trailer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx3BEWIYyIk

Similar Books:

• Second impact by David Klass
• The Moment by T.C. Anderson
• Pieces of Me by Darlene Ryan
• After the Shot Drops by Randy Ribay

Other books by Chris Crutcher:

• Period 8 
• King of the Mild Frontier
• The Sledding Hill
• Chinese Handcuffs
• Running Loose

LSSL 5385 Requirement Met: Read a book by Chris Crutcher