Title: Raider’s Night
Author: Robert Lipsyte
Publish Date: July 2007
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Pages: 256pp
ISBN: 0060599480
Classification: Fiction
Genre: Realistic Fiction/Sports 13 and up
Age Range: 13 and up
Price: $16.89
Annotation: Football is Matt Rydek’s life. He has been training intensely now for two years. After witnessing a ritual hazing gone wrong, Matt is left with guilt to either do the right thing, or play by rules of the Raider's.
Summary: The Raiders football team has been part of Matt Rydek’s life forever. In fact, Matt was almost like a captain as he kept fellow players on their lifting schedule, working out, and spending time with the younger players. Matt has an intense focus on winning a scholarship--driven dully by his love of the game and bullying sports dad. When football camp begins, Matt finds himself witnessing bullying and manipulation. On the last week of camp the hazing turns into a sexual assault and none of the adults do anything about it, rather they turn away as if it didn’t happen. Matt is unsure about what to do, if he goes to the authorities he loses everything: his friends, his scholarship, his future.
Evaluation: Robert Lipsyte takes the reader on one hell of a ride--A frightening look inside high school football, and I say frightening because almost every bad conception in relation to high school football was presented in this novel. After conducting some of my own research, I found this novel pretty accurate, with the drug use and ritual hazing attacks (scary). However, we see the protagonist of the story, Matt Rydeck, come to realize that the measure of a man is who he decides to be and what he decides to stand for, which brings me to the conclusion that Raider’s Night should be read by every high school teenager—especially those involved with sports. I really enjoyed this novel and what the story brings to the surface.
Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness:
- Being pressured from everyone around you to be the best.
- Having a father who harasses you.
- Hazing inside sports teams.
- Doing the right thing, with the possibility of loosing everything.
- Being forced to use drugs.
Reason this book was chosen: In addition to being on the required reading list, this story incorporates an inside look of the negative side of high school sports and the challenge of doing the right thing, with the possibility of loosing everything you have planned for your future.
Similar Titles:
Awards:
ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, 2008
