Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: Game Changer, Tommy Greenwald

Tommy Greenwald Adds Imperfect Season Graphic Novel To Game Changer

Tommy Greenwald adds The Imperfect Season graphic novel to his Game Changer series of middle-grade novels, from Abrams Fanfare

Tommy Greenwald, the father of three sports-obsessed sons, has written dozens of books for children, including his middle-grade novel Game Changer, which has been placed on over twenty American state reading lists and was a YALSA Top Ten Book for Reluctant Readers. He is now writing a new chapter as a graphic novel with artist Berat Pekmezci.

Erica Finkel at Abrams Fanfare has acquired the first two books in a middle-grade graphic novel series, which will take place in the same world as Greenwald's Game Changer novels. The Imperfect Season is a story about a high school freshman American Football team chasing an undefeated season while facing a series of challenges on and off the field. Abrams Fanfare, a new graphic novel line, will publish the first book in the autumn of 2027, with the second book to follow in the autumn of 2028. Tommy Greenwald's agent, Amy Thrall Flynn, at Aevitas Creative Management, and Berat Pekmezci's agent, Emily Fernandez, at the Bright Agency, negotiated the deal.

Game Changer was published in 2018 and followed up with Rivals, Dinged and the latest, The Late Call, published next month.

Game Changer: Thirteen-year-old Teddy Youngblood is in a coma fighting for his life after an unspecified football injury at training camp. His family and friends flock to his bedside to support his recovery—and to discuss the events leading up to the tragic accident. Was this an inevitable result of playing a violent sport, or was something more sinister happening on the field that day? Told in an innovative, multimedia format combining dialogue, texts, newspaper articles, transcripts, an online forum, and Teddy's inner thoughts, Game Changer explores the joyous thrills and terrifying risks of America's most popular sport.

Rivals: The people of Walthorne love their basketball―and one of the things they love most is the special rivalry between the Walthorne North Middle School Cougars and the Walthorne South Middle School Panthers. As the season begins, two star players are feeling the heat: Austin Chambers, captain of Walthorne North, worries that he's not good enough to live up to his father's legacy, while across town, the brilliantly talented Carter Haswell, captain of Walthorne South, is already under pressure to get a scholarship that might ease his family's financial stress. While both boys do whatever they can to make sure their team wins, Alfie Jenks, a school sports reporter, discovers that behind-the-scenes scandals are just as much a part of youth sports as on-the-court action. When she blows the story wide open, the whole season is jeopardized. Told through a series of flashbacks, newspaper reports, social media posts, and interviews, Rivals will have readers tearing through the pages to see what happens next―and asking themselves if winning has become more important than doing the right thing.

Dinged: A star football player watches his father deteriorate from injuries he suffered playing the very same sportCaleb Springer is the up-and-coming star freshman quarterback on the high school football team, which isn't a surprise considering his dad, Sammy Springer, was an NFL superstar and is now the town celebrity. College scouts are already snooping around Caleb, and his future seems set. But just as Caleb's glory days begin, his dad starts to change. He's forgetting things and getting angry at random times. Caleb is forced to confront a bleak possibility: The sport that gives him so much status and self-worth might be the cause of his dad's strange behavior. Will Caleb keep playing the sport of his dreams, even if he knows how dangerous it can be?

The Late Call: Cal Klondike's life revolves around baseball. He's the Walthorne Baseball Academy's star pitcher, and everyone from his coach to his dad to the town sports blogger is telling Cal he has an unlimited future in the sport. But with all this attention comes a lot of added stress, especially as the season kicks into high gear and college and pro scouts start to show up at the games. Inevitably, tensions that have been bubbling under the surface finally boil over, culminating in a confrontation that could change Cal's relationship to baseball forever.

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