Playing for Pizza (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780385525008)

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - After providing what is arguably the worst single performance in the history of the NFL, third-string quarterback Rick Dockery becomes a national laughingstock. Cut by the Cleveland Browns, and shunned by every other team, Rick insists that his agent find a team that does need him.

Against enormous odds, Rick lands a job--as the starting quarterback for the Mighty Panthers ... of Parma, Italy.

The Parma Panthers desperately want a former NFL player--any former NFL player--at their helm. And now they've got Rick, who knows nothing about Parma (not even where it is) and doesn't speak a word of Italian. To say that Italy--the land of fine wines, extremely small cars, and football americano--holds a few surprises for Rick Dockery would be something of an understatement.

Author: John Grisham
ISBN-10: 0385525001
ISBN-13: 9780385525008
Publisher: Doubleday Books
Language: English
Published: 09/24/2007
Pages: 272
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.87lbs
Size: 8.54h x 5.64w x 0.94d

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 5.7
Point Value: 11
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 119110 / Playing for Pizza

Award: Colorado Blue Spruce Award - Nominee

Review Citation(s):
Vanity Fair 10/01/2007 pg. 164
Entertainment Weekly 09/28/2007 pg. 109
Entertainment Weekly 10/19/2007 pg. 133
People Weekly 10/01/2007 pg. 60
Library Journal 09/24/2007

About the Author
Since first publishing A Time to Kill in 1988, Grisham has written one novel a year (his other books are The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, The Partner, The Street Lawyer, The Testament, The Brethren, A Painted House, Skipping Christmas, The Summons, The King of Torts, Bleachers, The Last Juror, and The Broker) and all of them have become international bestsellers. The Innocent Man (October 2006) marks his first foray into non-fiction.

Grisham lives with his wife Renee and their two children Ty and Shea. The family splits their time between their Victorian home on a farm in Mississippi and a plantation near Charlottesville, VA.