Publication Date: 14 October 2025

The Blurb

In this companion to Jason Reynolds’s award-winning and New York Times bestselling RUN series, meet Coach as a boy striving to come into his own as a track star while facing upheaval at home.

Before Coach was the man who gave caring yet firm-handed guidance to Ghost, Lu, Patina, and Sunny on the Defenders track team, he was little Otie Brody, who was obsessed with Mr. 9.99 (a.k.a. Carl Lewis) and Marty McFly from Back to the Future. Like Mr. 9.99–and his own dad–Otie is a sprinter. Sprint free or die is practically his motto.

Then his dad, who is always away on business trips, comes home with a pair of Jordans. JORDANS. Fine as fine can be. Otie puts them on and feels like he can leap to the moon…maybe even leap like Mr. 9.99 when he won the Olympic gold medal in the long jump. But one morning he wakes up to find his brand-new secret weapon kicks are missing–right off his feet! And Otie just might have a fuzzy memory of his dad easing them off as Otie was sleeping, but that can’t be right, can it?

Unless all the reasons for his dad’s “gone’s” are very different from what he’s been told… Because now, not only are the Jordans missing, but so is his father.

The Review

If you’ve spent any time with the Run series (and if you haven’t, what are you waiting for?), you know Coach. He’s the steady, firm, and deeply loving anchor for Ghost, Lu, Patina, and Sunny. But Jason Reynolds has finally pulled back the curtain on the man himself, and let me tell you, it’s as heartbreaking a read as it is soulshaking.

This isn’t just a prequel; it’s a masterclass in empathy. It’s short, punchy, and carries the rhythmic, soulful prose that only Jason can deliver, which led me to devour it in one sitting. Bullying and big dreams are Otie’s day to day, a life most children can relate to, until we learn his family secret.

Jason perfectly captures that specific moment when a child realizes their parent is a flawed, hurting human being. The betrayal here isn’t just about a pair of sneakers; it’s about the theft of security.

Watching Otie process his father’s addiction and the “why” behind those long business trips is heavy, but Reynolds handles it with such grace. You see the seeds of the man Otie becomes; the man who makes sure his kids on the Defenders always have a place to land.

The other huge bonus to Coach is that it transported me straight back to my childhood, where I too dreamed of time machines. It still hurts, however, that my childhood is now modern historical fiction.

Perfect for fans of the Run series, children who love sports but need the heart of a story too, and anyone who knows that sometimes the fastest runners are the ones trying to outrun their own lives.

Great for fans of:

• The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow
• All To Play For by Eve Ainsworth
• The Dream Team: Jaz Santos vs. the World by Priscilla Mante