Curriculum Connections: Fred Bowen Sports Story series, realistic fiction, setting, plot and character development, point of view: Main character; eighth grader, Richie Mallon. Conflict: man vs self, man vs man, figurative language: metaphor, hyperbole, idiom. Back matter: real stories, history of shooters in basketball, author’s Note. Themes: basketball, self-esteem, teamwork
Fred Bowen is a lifelong sports fanatic who has coached youth league baseball, basketball, and soccer. His kids’ sports column “The Score” appears each week in the KidsPost section of the Washington Post.