



Shadowed
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Beloved, award-winning author Carl Deuker serves up another fast-paced sports novel—this one about basketball and friendship.
Nate plays soccer, but he doesn’t love it. He plays because it’s what his family expects.
Then Lucas Cawley moves in across the street. Lucas isn’t like any of Nate’s sports friends—he’s poor, his parents are mostly absent, and he’s devoted to his sister, Megan, who has a learning disability. Lucas may be an outcast at school, but he and Nate find common ground in their fierce games of one-on-one basketball.
It’s not long before Nate realizes that basketball is his sport. But Nate has an ax to grind with star players Colin and Bo, who have disrespected him for years. Nate believes that outplaying those two is the most important thing . . . until he learns that life is about more than getting ready for the next game.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hoping to prove himself as a competent basketball player, Nate sets his sights on classmates Colin and Bo. Though they play for a select club group as well as the high school varsity team, Nate is certain he can compete with them. He recruits neighbor Lucas to play on the local rec team with him. The two haven't been friends since grade school, during which Lucas was given the derisive nickname Creepy Crawley when classmates found him playing with his sister, who has a learning disability, during recess, but they have chemistry on the court. They make a pact: "We just have to keep pushing each other, getting better every day. No quitting." They eventually make their way onto the club team with Colin and Bo, but when a prank goes sideways, Nate is left reeling. In this straightforward underdog tale, Deuker (Golden Arm) supports explorations of friendship, family, dreams, and grief with high-octane gameplay; utilitarian writing and action-packed chapters propel this empathetic sports novel with an emotional arc that tugs at the heartstrings. Main characters read as white. Ages 13–up.