Representation: Black and Asian characters
Trigger warnings: Racism, including the n-word slur
Score: Six points out of ten.
This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.

I wanted to read this for a while after seeing the library I got this from get it a few days ago so I finally picked it up and read it. When I finished it, the only thought I had inside my head was that I felt this book was underwhelming. It could've been so much better than it is now but the numerous flaws forced me to lower the book's rating to three stars. It starts with the main character Colin Kaepernick or Colin for short as I'll call him from now on living with his adoptive (white) parents sometime in the early 2000s or something along those lines. The main point of this novel is that Colin wants to do football but has few opportunities to do so since all I could see was Colin trying to play baseball even though that isn't what he wants to do as a sport. Here's where the flaws surface, I couldn't relate to any of the characters including Colin and the rest of them whose names I forgot and I felt that the book couldn't pick a concept to focus on since it kept switching between sport and race, and let me tell you there is a lot of talk about race and the racism is everywhere. One time there was even a slur which I didn't like which slightly ruined my enjoyment of the narrative. I also wished it could've been longer, and not to mention this is similar to The Tryout by Christina Soontornvat and this story could've rivalled that if it were longer. But alas, I don't have any reason to recommend this book to anyone except people who haven't heard of Colin. The last few pages weren't necessary as it felt like a promotion for Colin's activism thing. Also why did it only say it helps Black and Brown people and not Asian, Latino/a, neurodivergent people or those who have disabilities or different body types or religions? ( )

I admire Colin Kaepernick's activism, but this story about his senior year of high school was too slim a piece of his life to satisfy my curiosity about the man behind the icon. Indeed, I found it frustrating as it raised issues it didn't fully address and alluded to a bigger picture that's left unpainted. This whole book would have worked better as a chapter in a longer memoir.

I think part of the problem is that the book assumes some knowledge about Kaepernick, which I pretty much lack. For instance, I had no idea he was a multiracial person who was adopted by a white family, and it took a while for the story to make that clear. Establishing some facts upfront would have helped the rest of the story flow better and make more sense, but we're just dumped into his senior year with no preparation.

The adoptive parents are presented as racist and controlling, leaving me to wonder what Kaepernick's relationship with them is like currently, especially in light of recent news articles about Michael Oher and the Tuohy family. Unfortunately, the story doesn't address anything after Kaepernick chooses his college.

And his college choice is supposed to be the big dramatic climax of the book, but even my ignorant butt knew he played football, so there was no tension or surprise there at all.

In the end matter, the six pages of photographs and quotes from people who attended a conference Kaepernick hosted seemed a bit random and tangential, aiming for inspirational but coming off more like a brochure.

Disappointing. ( )