The Video King

About the Book

It’s 1993 and fifteen-year-old Brady Benson’s life is about to change forever. Brady relieves the stress of a highly academic school environment by indulging in his favorite pastimes: sports, movies, and video games. Inexplicably, Brady’s video game playing begins controlling the real sporting events! Brady and buddy Tim, nicknamed Bee-Bee and the Chief, decide to fulfill a desire to be rich by gambling. Initially, all goes well, but soon the situation turns sour. The real sports world is topsy-turvy, but worse, the Mafia is after Brady because ineffective player bribes are causing them to teeter on the brink of bankruptcy.

Bee-Bee and the Chief grope for the reason behind the dilemma. Could it be God, a black magic spell, or science? A call from Dan Patrick of ESPN gives Brady the opportunity to appear on national TV to play the Notre Dame vs. Florida State game on his Sega Genesis, but the Mafia also knows he’ll be there.

If this isn’t enough, Brady’s mother is pressuring him to rewrite a composition to improve his grade, but he can’t concentrate!

While ducking the Mafia, can Brady get Michael Jordan out of baseball and stop NASCAR from racing at the Indy 500?

Readers will delight seeing an insecure teenager become a wheeler-dealer, and movie buffs will enjoy the chapter titles which are quotes from or titles of movies.

About the Author

Shirley Babcock holds a Master of Science degree in English Education from Purdue University. Her entire professional career has been teaching reading and language arts to teenagers.

She has raised two sons and lives in West Lafayette, Indiana, near Purdue. Her interests include politics, sports, reading, and writing.