On the Devil's Court by Carl Deuker

The way we find books is interesting. In this case, I have a student who more or less refuses to find his own books and more or less refuses to read the book I find for him. He's very picky. So, I found this title through research, our librarian bought it for him and I gave it to him to read. He took it for three days and then handed it back me saying that he read it. He even said he liked it. However, that is exactly all he'll say about it and since I haven't read it, I'm having a hard time pressing him on it.

The problem is that I suspect he's lying to me. He might of read it though, and the only way I'll find out is to read it myself so I know what questions to ask. So, even though it is yet another sports book, even though it is firmly aimed at a male audience, and even though it is aimed strongly at teenagers, I read it.

I expected to have to slog through it. It was not a slog. I devoured it in a matter of hours because it is a very good book.

"Dr. Faustus" is an Elizabethan play written by Christopher Marlowe. It used to be, way back in the day, part of the high school canon. It more or less got dropped from the canon before even I went through high school. Which is a shame because it is an interesting story with excellent themes worthy of consideration. However it's also dense, fairly cerebral, and the language is hard for the average high schooler to interpret.

On the Devil's Court is almost written as a companion piece to the play "Dr. Faustus." The main character, Joe Faust, is reading the play in class while the events of the larger story unfold. Because of this, he actively considers, and attempts, to sell his soul to the devil for one perfect season of basketball. He doesn't really believe in the devil, so he doesn't really believe that he can sell his soul to him. But then, everything starts going eerily right.

The book does an excellent job of examining the classic themes present in the play while making them more approachable for a modern high school audience. I'm really seriously considering On the Devil's Court as a classroom text for next year which would, I think, allow us to read Marlowe's play as well.