If you were given powers that would allow you to be an amazing athlete, but only for six months, and only until you solve the one problem that needs to be solved, what would you do?


In Arnie’s case, it would be to get rid of the gang of bullies at his school. These bullies are the sports kids that are the best at what they do. And if you can’t beat them at whatever game they are good at, you are banned from the best park, and you have to wear a loser hat.


Arnie is tired of wearing the loser hat, so when he gets that chance, that chance to be good in any sport, he takes it. And, as you can probably guess, it all goes to his head, and he forgets the whole point.


Although that part, the getting drunk with being good at sports, and thus being popular, was not that unusual, what was unusual was how he turned things around. Because, there are more to games than the kind one plays on the field.


I ended up enjoying this story. I like the twist. I like how Arnie came around. I liked how the problem was solved. I think this would be a great book for kids that are better at the kinds of games you can win sitting down, rather than running around. And certainly it will be good for kids that have to deal with bullies.


Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book is coming out the 28th of October 2025.

Arnie is terrible at sports. He has no coordination and does not enjoy them. Unfortunately, he lives in the most athletic town EVER and has super athletic parents. When he tries to face up to the Brohemians, a group of athletic bullies, he is lucky enough to get some extra help in magical form. But can he follow those rules and resist the temptation to use it only for himself?

I have two different opinions on this book: elementary school librarian, and reader.

As a reader, I found this to be an absolutely boring slog of a book. I do not care for sports and I found this athletic town to be unrealistic. Insert eyeroll here. Personally, I would rate it two stars. But this was not written for me!

However, as a librarian, I see how much some of my students will absolutely love this one. I read through part of it with a 5th grade class and they loved it and proclaimed it as 5 stars. They thought Arnie was a great character, they hated the Brohemians, and they were not bothered by the unrealistic aspect of the story.

So I am going to sort of split the difference. I'll give it 4 stars because the audience likes it, even if I don't.

Thank you to Net Galley and OniPress for the ARC. All opinions are my own.