Winger

WINGER by Andrew Smith. Simon and Schuster, 2013.

Ryan Dean is 14, sort of scrawny, and a better than average winger (rugby). He lives in Opportunity Hall, the boarding school dorm for kids who have had some "trouble" adjusting to life and to the rules. His best friend, Annie, is someone he would prefer be more than a friend. And his roommate is a bit of a bully. Smith tells readers just enough of Ryan Dean's past as he propels them further into the very comic and sometime tragic present that is Ryan Dean's life. Honest (lots of talk of bodily functions), irreverent (Ryan Dean and his pals know how to manipulate adults fairly well), charming (the budding romance); this is a book that makes you lower your guard and then packs a walloping punch. WINGER is a book that will haunt long after the reading ends.