Losers Bracket

1. Bibliography
Crutcher, C. 2018. Losers Bracket. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 9780062220080

2. Summary
Annie Boots, a seventeen year old girl, lives with her adoptive parents, Momma and Pop, and her adoptive brother, Marvin, who give her a home, provide her with a good education, and support her love of sports. Yet this is not enough for Annie, who longs for the love and support of her “bio” family. Trying to bring her two worlds together, Annie realizes that this is a huge mistake when her two families go to her swim meet to show their support. After a fight breaks out and her biological sister’s son, Frankie, disappears, her family issues come tumbling down harder than it already has. Annie’s adoptive dad, Pop, threatens to kick Annie out if she comes in contact with anyone from her biological family, and Shelia, Annie’s sister, leaves town. While this is all happening, Annie tries to find Frankie and help come up with a plan with her case worker, Wiz, and a family friend, Walter, who is actually behind Frankie’s disappearance. Once it is brought to light that Frankie is safe, Shelia comes back and is sent to an abusive treatment center to get better from her drug addiction. Within the center, Nancy, Walter, Annie, and others travel to see Shelia and are shocked to find out that she escaped and kidnapped Frankie from Wiz’s home. They track her down at a nearby lake and find Frankie and Shelia drowning, but they are able to save their lives. Fast forward to a year later, and Annie is able to bring both of her worlds together for a traditional Boots Thanksgiving. She then realizes that she can never let go of her “bio” family because they are stuck together with glue: love.

3. Discussion
It took me more than halfway through the book to really dive in and enjoy it. When I was writing the summary and had to reflect on the beginning half of the book, the only topics I could remember happening were sports: swimming and basketball. It wasn’t until Annie began to struggle with Pops and her family drama from both sides grew when I found myself wanting to continue to read and find out what was going to happen to Annie and Freddie.

This book can be relatable to a lot of children, whether you live in a “crazy” household or not, and I believe Losers Bracket can be considered a realistic fiction book. Chapter 11 in our textbook describes certain criteria aspects to consider when deciding if a book is realistic fiction or not, and the question of, “Is everything consistent with the real world in which contemporary kids live?” is evident throughout the story. The characters are ordinary people going through family problems, and although not many can relate to (adoption and drug abuse), there are some readers who can see these topics as ordinary or a struggle they or a family member once went through.

I think this book might be suitable for middle school students, but I would recommend this more for the high school level because of the topics of drug abuse and the brief talk about a mother trying to drown herself and her son (this may be hard for younger students to read and I believe needs a higher level of maturity).

4. Connections
As previously mentioned, some readers may be able to relate to this story of adoption and the family effects of drug abuse, but teachers may be able to use this book to discuss family values and discuss how Annie always wanted to be accepted and loved by her “bio” family.

This book may also be good to recommend to readers who may be going through the struggles of adoption and who may need guidance and learning to cope with their family/living situations.