Taking the Lead (Alec London Series)

The Alec London Series is a series written for boys, 8 – 12 years old.  Alec London is introduced in Stephanie Perry Moore's previously released series, The Morgan Love Series.  In this new series, readers get a glimpse of Alec's life up close and personal. The series provides moral lessons that will aid in character development, teaching boys how to effectively deal with the various issues they face at this stage of life. The series will also help boys develop their english and math skills as they read through the stories and complete the entertaining and educational exercises provided at the end of each chapter and in the back of the book.

Alec is excited about being the fastest runner in school and being voted 5th grade class president.  Tyrod, on the other hand is not excited about this at all because he used to be the fastest runner in school.  To regain the title he challenges Alec to a rematch.  The PE teacher has a better idea.  He invites both Alec and Tyrod to be a part of the school track team.  Determined to not let Tyrod stop him from having fun, Alec joins the team.

Just when he starts to have fun after learning how to ignore Tyrod, Alec finds out that his grandmother is getting sicker from the cancer.  Alec has a hard time accepting this news about his grandmother and things start to fall apart.  He stops hanging out with his friends, including his close buds, Morgan and Trey. He lets the class meetings get out of order.  

It's not until Alec starts volunteering with a Special Olympics team that he starts to be himself again. As he works with the team he realizes that if kids who are physically limited can give their all...so can he.  Alec gets excited all over again and kicks thing into gear.  He brings the 5th grade class back together to work on the end-of-the-yearactivities.  He works hard making things right with Tyrod and becoming friends with him.  He does his part on the track relay team and helps them win the county title. In the midst of all of these great things happening, Alec loses his grandmother.  As he deal with his sadness, he is able to hold on to a spark of hope as he thinks about how proud his grandmother would be of him for taking the lead and using the skills God gave him to help others.