Takedown - by Ali Bryan (Paperback)

About the Book

When high school wrestler Rowan Harper finds a costly ALS treatment that might save her dad, she delves into the seedy yet profitable world of illegal underground cage fights, jeopardizing a college wrestling scholarship and her love life.

Book Synopsis

"Sports fans and reluctant readers alike will enjoy the detailed, fast-paced wrestling matches and blow-by-blow MMA fight scenes. ... Visceral and violent yet ultimately hopeful." -- Kirkus Reviews

Sixteen-year-old star wrestler Rowan Harper's biggest fan is her father.

But he has ALS, and his symptoms are getting worse. Saving his life will cost more money than the family has, but Rowan finds a solution. Will she risk her chances at a scholarship by competing in a lucrative, but illegal, underground MMA fight?

Takedown is a high-intensity coming-of-age story about family illness and competitive combat, with lots of heart, hope, and headlocks.

Review Quotes

"Told with empathy, humour and Bryan's sharp ear for dialogue, Takedown is an intense yet heartwarming story of a championship-level teenage wrestler who, as outside attention focuses on her athletic prowess, is also fighting for her family. The action scenes are accurate and visceral, but the novel's heart is in relationships--friends, family, mentors--and Rowan's struggle with grief."

--Alberta Views

"Takedown is a great read on so many levels. Highly Recommended."

--Sarah Wethered "CM: Canadian Review of Materials"

"In Takedown, Bryan tells the story of a rising high-school athlete struggling to balance her love of her sport and her family's struggles in a novel exploring responsibility, coming of age, sportsmanship, and mental health."

--Valerie Tohom "Booklist"