Sticks -- Joan Bauer

If you've got a 10-year-old boy that's obsessed with either pool or math, this would be a good bet. 

Otherwise, I'd give it a miss unless you're a Joan Bauer junkie. 

(But even if you are a fanatic, be forewarned--it really isn't her best book.  At all.  It has its moments and all, but overall--pretty weak.  Think about it.  I've been a fan for a long, long time, and I hadn't even heard about this one until pretty recently.  And it isn't because it's new--Sticks is actually her third book--it came out in 1996.  It's just not her best.  I did kind of like Francine, though.  She was a 12-year-old wannabe Vegas magician who reminded me a little bit of Anastasia Krupnik, if she was more outgoing, a sidekick rather than a main character, and from New Jersey.)