Harold M. Sherman had a long career as a lecturer, author, and psychic researcher. In the 1920s and '30s he wrote many books for younger readers, many of them on sports subjects, and several of them with exclamation points in the title. Block That Kick! qualifies as one of those, obviously, but it has a lot more going on than the typical juvenile football stories of the time. It's mostly a story about producing a play, there are nearly as many female characters as male, and the conflict and suspense is not limited to Bartlett's football field. It was directed more at a college-aged audience than to children, and football prowess wasn't touted as highly as having a wide range of experiences and talents, nor was blind loyalty to a school shown as being as important as devotion to friends. It's one of Sherman's better (and longer) novels.