Mr Touchdown

Lyda Phillips

Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)

In 1965, the South remained defiantly segregated. Eddie Russell, a star football player, and his timid sister, Lakeesha, are told they will be helping to desegregate an all-white high school. Their father tells them they will be fighting for a righteous cause, but they aren’t buying it - because they have no choice in the matter.

From the first day of school, the wall of hostility Eddie and Lakeesha face at Forrest High School seems unbreakable, until they meet cheerleader Nancy Martin. She sees the cruelty and crosses the line to befriend the black students - starting a cycle of violence that threatens to spin out of control.

Will the minority students hold on long enough to complete their mission - and that of the adults who put them in this situation - or will they bow to the onslaught of psychological and physical abuse?

Review by Molly Martin (310506) Rating (8/10)

Review by Molly Martin
Rating 8/10
The narrative opens on a dusty Tennessee day in 1965. That is the day when Eddie Russel’s preacher father drops a bomb shell. Eddie and his sister Lakeesha will be part of a small group of black high schoolers to integrate the local all white high school. For football star Eddie this is not good news. ‘You all want us to go to an all-white school, we’ll go,’ he said. ‘But don’t expect us to be heroes.’ From that beginning Eddie, Lakeesha and their friends, Lethe Jefferson and Rochelle Perry, are set upon a roller coaster ride filled with racial slurs, angry glares, and just plain animosity. From the coach who doesn’t want a black player, to an assumption the students must be behind and need make up work to those who ignored, outright animosity and grudging approval the four find themselves fighting an uphill battle for acceptance. As Eddie runs laps to allow the white boys times to shower after football practice to teacher’s eyes directed toward by not quite meeting his to stares and gasps the first days of school are not easy ones. Cafeteria workers who were careful to not touch black hands, grudging respect building in unsuspected teachers and fellow students, being ignored, sitting out football game after football game, always feeling afraid, and decisions to be made.

Mr. Touchdown offers the reader a peek into the turmoil facing many students, black and white, during 1965 as they face changes in their lives when the law demanded that the schools be desegregated. Athletes, straight a students none of that matters, everyone knows –they- are dirty, they cheat and they can’t compete with white students. Everyone knows –they- are bigots, hate everyone not white and have no compassion. Facing anger and outright hatred of many of the teaching staff as well as fellow students is something few of us can honestly say we have experienced. Integration forced black and white to look within themselves and find the commonality of humankind…. It was not always an easy struggle. Writer Phillips has well portrayed the struggle for black and white alike as they come to understanding of themselves, social mores of the time and change in society.

Written mainly in third person writer Phillips draws the reader into the tale from the outset and holds reader interest tight as we follow the ups and downs of four young people who are facing more stress than most of us face in our lifetime.

Mr. Touchdown is an outstanding read filled with resonating, illustrative language used to forge an animated teen world filled with shop class and unfair gym teachers, rattle of band, pep rallies and pompoms. Gusty dialogue, fast-moving story line, and frankly astonishing twists and turns rooted in the revolutionary social change that were part and parcel of our country during the 1960s are presented in readable fashion sure to draw middle school and high school reader attention. Writer Phillips has managed to balance the vivid portrayal of community undercurrent, cross generation distress, personal struggle, teen angst, and violence against the beginnings of understanding and acceptance by adults and fellow students. From outright anger to false acceptance to real understanding, teachers are portrayed in believable manner. Racism, segregation, separate and never equal, are presented in gritty words and gritty manner. The writer has crafted a work of fiction based in historical fact. Eddie is a character with whom reader’s can identify for both his struggle as a black youth, and that of simply being a teen in an adult world.

Excellent choice for the classroom, the pleasure reading shelf, homeschool library and middle to high school curriculum. Enjoyed the read, happy to recommend.
Molly Martin (31st May 2006)