This reminded me of Louis Sachar's The Cardholder: A Novel about a King, A Queen, and a Joker. A passionate bridge player, he hoped to turn the young reader into a future bridge player. There were elements of mystery and humor. Wolitzer is a voracious Scrabble player. She brings an assortment of young players to the national Youth Scrabble Tournament. This is a two person team competition. Some of the players are not very nice. One has been coerced to play by a father who never got over losing at the Youth Scrabble Tournament. One player may have an other worldly talent -- is he cheating if he uses it? One goes with the hope of remeeting a guy she had taught the game to several years ago. The parents are almost as interesting as the contestants. They have their own baggage. One contestant recently learned that the father, he had been told had died years ago, may actually still be alive. Lots of different threads, along with Scrabble rules and strategies make this a winning tale of competition.
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