Book #3 David Klass’ Grandmaster

I started this book right after I finished Reality Boy. It was a coincidence that Grandmaster also deals with repairing a father-son relationship, but in quite a different way. It doesn’t seem fair to compare the two books as Grandmaster is written for a younger audience, but I do like the focus on father-son relationships, and if you’re a dad, you might read this book and share it with your pre-teen son. There are also a few female characters who represent a variety of roles.  It’s a book that you can feel comfortable putting in your school library or classroom shelf and I look forward to giving this book to a middle school teacher I know.

Grandmaster is the story of freshman Daniel Pratzer. He has just begun attending an expensive private high school and joins the chess team after being unable to find another sports team to join. Daniel, who is the worst player on the team, is surprised one day when the two captains invite him and his dad to join their team which is set to compete at a weekend father-son chess tournament (which a large cash prize for the winners). The captains inform Daniel that his father is a chess grandmaster—a fact Daniel’s father has kept from his family.

The structure of the novel is straightforward (no flashbacks here) and the plot moves quickly and is captivating (I read it in a few hours). I was worried that there would be long complicated descriptions of chess moves, but there aren’t. The descriptions of chess are actually interesting with historical facts thrown in as well as what I imagine are real names for chess strategies. And, although I suspected what the ending might be, it was still a little suspenseful at times. My favorite bits were the moments when the father realizes how important it is for his son to see him excel at something and Klass writes as if he has experienced moments like the ones in the book when Daniel is proud of his father.

I would be interested in seeing who reads this book. I think if Emery were just a few years older, he’d enjoy it (he’s currently reading Wonder but has been reading Erin Hunter’s Warrior cat series, which is on target for the late elementary student who reads animal fantasies.