Losers Bracket

Annie Boots is one of the lucky ones, if a foster kid can ever be called lucky, but she has a foster family that has kept her long term. The foster father has issues of his own, but the foster mother and brother are terrific for Annie. Annie comes from a highly dysfunctional family, and she just can’t seem to let go of them, sabotaging her own athletic success just for the chance they might show up for a little visit. Annie’s nephew, Frankie, goes missing during a swim meet when her book club and her bio family both show up to cheer her on and somehow end up in a HUGE fight. The pressure of Frankie’s disappearance exposes the worst in some and the best in others.

Author Chris Crutcher has a background in counseling teens, and it shows in his writing. His characters and situations have an authenticity not always found in YA literature. This is no exception. Annie, though, is a very hard character to root for as she makes a lot of lousy decisions and has a lot of sharp edges. That said, this, like all of Crutcher’s many books, will find a wide audience.