Not impressed. ( )

I truly enjoyed No Excuses by Stephen I. Harris. I received a copy of the book through the Library Thing Early Reviewers program and am giving my unbiased opinion of it in the following review.

Skeets is surprised when he comes home from school one day to find a stranger at his Vermont farmhouse. Mr. MacColl has come to stay and check out the Green Mountains and face some demons from his past experiences in Vietnam. Although Skeets isn't too thrilled about giving up his room for a few weeks while they prepare a room in the barn for their guest, he slowly learns more about him and they find a place of mutual respect. Mr. MacColl was an Olympic caliber decathlete before he was injured in the war. Skeets wants to be an athlete and is too small for football and got jeered away from trying out for baseball. When Mr. MacColl tells him about the decathlon he is intrigued. The book continues to tell both main character's stories as they strive to not make excuses for not trying for their best lives.

This story takes place in the mid 1980s. It is short and moves along at a good pace. It is a little unbelievable that Skeets is able to accomplish as much as he does in such a short period of time, but I love a good underdog story. He also read a little young and naive for his age in my opinion. Overall, I really did love this though. I loved the dynamic between Mr. MacColl and Skeets as well as Skeets and the other decathletes he meets in competition. I also enjoyed the little snippets of sports history interspersed throughout the book. I think this would be a great book for a reluctant reader in middle school or high school. 4 stars ( )

The author"s writing style is very old-fashioned. This would
be cute if the setting matched it. The location of rural
Vermont matched the old-fashioned style but the time was
vague. All he mentioned was pre cell phone. I found that
annoying and had to take characters' ages and subtract
years. I think it was set in the 80s but if I had to guess from
writing style I would have said 50s. In the story, Skeets runs
through the woods around his farm and does a lot of farm
work but doesn't think he would be good enough for any
sports. A Vietnam vet moves in with his family. The vet was a
former track star. He convinces Skeets to go out for track and
run a decathlon. The descriptions of the meets are well done
but most of the story line is slow and annoyingly vague. When
Mac Coll, the vet, tells Skeets why NY is called the big apple,
he doesn't give an accurate answer and just says because it's
big. A simple internet search can answer that. The author
mentions peoples' race way more often than he needs to. ( )

A well-written , inspiring for young adults. Skeets Stearns is sixteen, and doesn't quite fit in in high school. Instead, he spends his time running through the mountains and woods of near his family's farm in the Green Mountains in Vermont.

One day, Bill McColl, a friend of Skeets's uncle, appears to stay with them, and Skeets must give up his room until a room for Bill. Naturally, Skeets resents this.

Bill is a former track star, and he recognizes Skeets's natural ability that has been developed by Skeets's runs in the mountains. He convinces Skeets to join the track team and serves as Skeets's trainer. In return, Skeets unknowingly helps Bill overcome his own demons.

The book follows the typical underdog becomes winner formula, but the final triumph is not what you expect. ( )

One boy that didn't know his own abilities. He crosses paths with a man who dared to chase his dream until injury sidelined him. As an older man looking to move on, he inspires a young man to try things out of his comfort zone. With guidance and encouragement, the team gets to travel to New York to compete against the best. ( )