Fourth Down and Inches: Concussions and Football's Make-Or-Break Moment

When the 1905 football season ended, nineteen players were dead and countless others were critically injured. The public was outraged. The game had reached a make-or-break moment--fourth down and inches. Coaches, players, fans, and even the president of the United States had one last chance: change football or leave the field.

Football's defenders managed to move the chains. Rule changes and reforms after 1905 saved the game and cleared the way for it to become America's most popular sport. But they didn't fix everything.

Today, football faces a new injury crisis as dire as 1905's. With increased awareness about brain injury, reported concussions are on the rise among football players. But experts fear concussions may only be the tip of the iceberg. The injuries are almost invisible, but the stakes couldn't be higher: the brains of millions of young football players across the country.

Award-winning author Carla Killough McClafferty takes readers on a bone-crunching journey from football's origins to the latest research on concussion and traumatic brain injuries in the sport. Fourth Down and Inches features exclusive photography and interviews with scientists, players, and the families of athletes who have literally given everything to the game.

It's fourth and inches. Can football save itself again?

Author: Carla Killough McClafferty
Publisher: Carolrhoda Books (R)
Published: 09/01/2013
Pages: 96
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.36lbs
Size: 10.28h x 10.05w x 0.43d
ISBN: 9781467710671
Audience: Young Adult

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 7.9
Point Value: 4
Interest Level: Middle Grade
Quiz #/Name: 159948 / Fourth Down and Inches: Concussions and Football's Make-Or-Break Moment


Award: Independent Publisher Book Awards - Bronze Medal Winner
Award: Benjamin Franklin Award - Silver Medal Winner
Award: Capitol Choices: Noteworthy Books for Children and Teens - Recommended


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 07/15/2013
Publishers Weekly 07/29/2013
School Library Journal 09/01/2013 pg. 186
Booklist 09/01/2013 pg. 106
Horn Book Magazine 01/01/2014 pg. 115
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2014 pg. 177 - Superior,Well Above Average

About the Author
McClafferty, Carla Killough: - Carla Killough McClafferty writes nonfiction books for young readers. But writing is not the first career for McClafferty, who is a Radiologic Technologist. Her work as an author began with her debut book, Forgiving God, an inspirational book that deals with the death of her youngest son, Corey. Next, she turned her attention to writing nonfiction for readers in upper elementary, middle school, and high school. Her first three books in this genre were published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux: The Head Bone's Connected to the Neck Bone: The Weird, Wacky and Wonderful X-ray, Something Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium, and In Defiance of Hitler: The Secret Mission of Varian Fry. Her latest book is The Many Faces of George Washington: Remaking a Presidential Icon (Carolrhoda).

Her books have been recognized for excellence by the Junior Library Guild, Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children by the CBC, New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age List, IRA Children's Book Award Winner, a NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book, ALA Best Books for Young Adult List, ALA Amelia Bloomer Project List, NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book, National Council of Social Studies/Children's Book Council Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, Booklist Top Ten Sci-Tech books, NCTE Orbis Pictus recommended book, an International 2008 Society of School Librarians International Book Award Honor Book, Cooperative Children's Book Council (CCBC) Choices 2009 list, Arkansas's 2008-2009 Charlie May Simon Reading List, and received a starred reviews in School Library Journal, Booklist, and Jewish Book World.

McClafferty is a popular speaker for both children and adults. She has presented at a wide variety of local, national, and international venues, providing workshops and keynote addresses at events which include ALA, AASL, NCTE, IRA national and regional SCBWI conferences. She lives in North Little Rock, Arkansas.

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