Description

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Kendall is football town, and Jerry Downing is the high school's star quarterback, working to redeem himself after he nearly killed a girl in a drunk driving accident last year. Carla Jenson, lead reporter for the school newspaper's sports section, has recruited Jerry to co-author a blog chronicling the season from each of their perspectives. When Jerry's best friend on the team takes a hit too hard and gets hurt, Carla wonders publicly if injury in the game comes at too high a cost in a player's life—but not everyone in Kendall wants to hear it. . . .

David Klass and Perri Klass's Second Impact is an action-packed story that will resonate with readers who have been following recent news stories about football injuries.

About the Author

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David Klass is the author of many young adult novels, including You Don't Know Me, Losers Take All, and Grandmaster. He is also a Hollywood screenwriter, having written more than twenty-five action screenplays, including Kiss the Girls, starring Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd, Walking Tall, starring The Rock, and Desperate Measures, starring Michael Keaton and Andy Garcia. Klass grew up in a family that loved literature and theater-his parents were both college professors and writers-but he was a reluctant reader, preferring sports to books. But he started loving the adventure stories his parents would bring home from the library-particularly Jack London, Robert Louis Stevenson and Alexandre Dumas. After his sister twice won a story contest in Seventeen magazine, Klass decided he would win it too, and when he was a senior in high school, he did, publishing his first story, "Ringtoss," in the magazine. He studied at Yale University, where he won the Veech Award for Best Imaginative Writing. He taught English in Japan, and wrote his first novel, The Atami Dragons, about that experience. He now lives in New York with his wife and two children.

Perri Klass is a pediatrician and contributor to the New York Times as well as an author of several books for adults. She is also professor of journalism and pediatrics at New York University. Second Impact is her first book for teens. She lives in New York City.

Praise For…

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“What is exceptional is the penetrating look at high-school football culture he provides via the school newspaper's sports blog. . . Klass and Klass still deliver a highly engaging, timely, and thought provoking read.” —Booklist

“The authors, an acclaimed writer for teens and a doctor well-known for her medical journalism, do a remarkable job incorporating both riveting sports action and sobering medical facts in the narrative. . . will resonate with aspiring journalists and teen sports fans alike.” —Kirkus Reviews

“... fans of sports novels and contemporary issues will find the story riveting.” —Publishers Weekly

“Written by a YA veteran with his sister, a pediatrician and medical writer, the book is highly topical and rich with current research.” —School Library Journal