Toby Wheeler: Eighth-Grade Benchwarmer

Reviewed by Julie M. Prince for TeensReadToo.com Life is simple. Toby Wheeler is just a gym rat playing pickup ball at the rec center with his best buddy JJ. But, things seem different lately. JJ is spending more and more time with his new friends instead of Toby. Determined to hang onto his buddy, Toby joins the school's basketball team at the encouragement of the new coach. Maybe this...more

Reviewed by Julie M. Prince for TeensReadToo.com Life is simple. Toby Wheeler is just a gym rat playing pickup ball at the rec center with his best buddy JJ. But, things seem different lately. JJ is spending more and more time with his new friends instead of Toby. Determined to hang onto his buddy, Toby joins the school's basketball team at the encouragement of the new coach. Maybe this way, he'll get to see more of JJ, since he's a basketball star. But, it seems like the only person Toby is seeing more of is the coach's daughter, Megan. Other players on the team are encouraging Toby to stay away from Coach's daughter if he wants to be anything but a benchwarmer. This seems like good advice, except that Megan is the only girl he can talk to without turning into a clumsy, awkward fool. This debut novel will definitely score with its readers, as Toby is just the kind of clueless but lovable character that middle-schoolers are sure to identify with. He navigates everything from losing friends and figuring out how to deal with girls to relearning things he thought he already knew. Basketball fans will get their fair share of trash talk when Toby faces off against his rival, Vinny Pesto, on the court and off. Toby may be clueless in some areas, but when the clock runs down, he knows it's time to take a shot. Heldring's style is easy and fun to read. I look forward to more books by this fabulous new author!   hide