Friday Night Lights- One of the Only Books in History to be Outdone by its Movie

Bibliography:
Bissinger, H. G. (1990). Friday night lights. Cambridge: Da Capo, 337 pp.

Awards:
#1 New York Times Bestseller

In his fictional depiction of the 1988 Permian High School Panther football team in Odessa, Texas, H. G. Bissinger highlights the team's highs and lows as they battle for a state championship. He gives a great deal of background information on many of players, including descriptions of their family lives and the racism that is all too present in the small town. The biggest part of the plot of the story is about football, but the author gives plenty of history of the town, as well as information about the issues that the town faces in terms of racism and the division between Permian High and Odessa High. It's a good book to read if you want to learn about the history aspect of the team, but it probably doesn't give as many details about the football games as young boys probably want.

I would probably have this book in my classroom on a bookshelf, and I wouldn't be opposed to letting small groups read it together. I also think that it would be good to suggest to a student who might want to learn more about the race problem in West Texas. However, I wouldn't assign this to the whole class, and I probably wouldn't use it as a read aloud. I think that most students would lose interest fast, and I don't think it could keep their attention very well. I probably wouldn't suggest it for anyone other than 10th graders, because of its reading level and the racial division described in the book.

I personally didn't like the book, but I understand where many people would. I didn't like it, because I was somewhat bored by the amount of historical information in the book. However, there are many students who might like it, and I would certainly encourage it. There is a little bit of bad language, but I think that more mature students could handle it.