I read this around 2012. A boy had cancer when he was a little kid and he used to have golden curly hair but after the chemo it grew back straight and brown. He is now in middle school and the chemo made it harder for his brain to function and he struggles with math. He needs to pass a math test to go on to the next grade (he is 6th or 7th or 8th grade I think). He practices with this man who is a coach maybe or at least he has coach vibes and the man tells him not to think just to do it and the boy does that and he thinks he's done really well on the practice test but he actually failed it. The coach pulls him aside to tell him and he is devastated. I think at the end he finally passes the test. This book also might be a sequel, I think the previous book was about this boy's older brother. I'm pretty sure the author is a man.
Jeffrey isn't a little boy with cancer anymore. He's a teen who's in remission, but life still feels fragile. The aftereffects of treatment have left Jeffrey with an inability to be a great student, or to walk without limping. His parents still worry about him. His older brother, Steven, lost it and took off to Africa to be in a drumming circle and 'find himself'. Jeffrey  Jeffrey isn't a little boy with cancer anymore. He's a teen who's in remission, but life still feels fragile. The aftereffects of treatment have left Jeffrey with an inability to be a great student, or to walk without limping. His parents still worry about him. His older brother, Steven, lost it and took off to Africa to be in a drumming circle and 'find himself'. Jeffrey has a little soul searching to do, too, which begins with his escalating anger at Steven, an old friend who is keeping something secret, and a girl who is way out of his league but who thinks he's cute. ...more