Heart of a Champion

Foreshadowing is using the narrative to alert the reader, heightening anticipation that something significant is about to occur in the story. Deuker uses foreshadowing in varied and subtle ways. For example, in Part 2, Chapter 18, when Seth notes with some degree of surprise that his drinking escapades with Todd and Jimmy were never discovered, this alerts readers to the possibility that the drinking is going to come to light, which is does.

Deuker also uses what might be called “reverse foreshadowing,” in which a character broadly predicts something positive and the reader immediately senses that the reverse will occur. One example of this can be found in Part 4, Chapter 10, when Seth predicts the team will win the league championship and perhaps the state tournament, leaving the reader with a feeling something is about to derail the team—it turns out to be Jimmy’s death.

Heart of a Champion covers a lot of chronological ground. This makes it a synoptic story, which is a tale covering the full extent of something, in this case, the friendship between Seth and Jimmy. In order to accomplish this, the novel starts as if writing a mid-grade book—a very young Seth nearly starts crying when