The Chief - by Robert Lipsyte (Paperback)

About the Book

On the verge of having a shot at the heavyweight boxing championship, nineteen-year-old Sonny Bear finds himself with conflicting loyalties when trouble erupts on his reservation over the construction of a new gambling casino. Sequel to "The Brave"

Book Synopsis

Sonny Bear, the Tomahawk Kid, has a championship left hook, but the heavyweight trail is too full of meatball fights in nowhere towns. He's ready to hang it up.

Alfred Brooks was a contender, then a street-smart New York cop, until a drug dealer's bullet shattered his spine and spirit. Now he's Sonny's manager - but how can you outsmart all the operators in this game from a wheelchair?

Martin Malcolm Witherspoon's a fat, four-eyed bigmouth who calls himself "the only Black in America who can't jump." But he can take on the sleezebags of Las Vegas and Hollywood - and the casino lords and gunmen of the Moscondaga Nation - to save his pals and report the story of their wild and dangerous mission to rescue the Reservation and win the world title.

From the Back Cover

A fight for his people.

Sonny Bear, the Tomahawk Kid, has a championship left hook. But his boxing career's going nowhere, and he's ready to hang it up.

Then his manager, tough ex-cop Alfred Brooks, and his "writer," college boy Martin Malcolm Witherspoon, scheme Sonny into a glitzy Las Vegas match. Suddenly he's everybody's darling and headed for Hollywood stardom.

But fame isn't all it's cracked up to be, and Sonny needs to make the fight of his life to decide where he really belongs.

Review Quotes

"Dramatic doings, terse and thrilling language, and deftly sketched characters produce a heart-pounding read." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Pulse-pounding action scenes... Memorable sports fiction." - Kirkus Reviews
"Engrossing and involving, the story has action, character development, humor, and a strong, satisfying finish." - ALA Booklist