Shot Clock
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Former NBA All-Star Caron Butler and acclaimed author Justin A. Reynolds tip off the first book in a new middle grade series about a young boy trying to make his mark on an AAU basketball team coached by a former NBA star in his hometown. Perfect for fans of The Crossover and the Track series. A Junior Library Guild Selection!
Tony loves basketball. But the game changed recently when his best friend, Dante, a hoops phenom, was killed by a police officer. Tony hopes he can carry on Dante’s legacy by making the Sabres, the AAU basketball team Dante took to two national championships.
Tony doesn’t make the team, but Coach James likes what he sees from Tony at tryouts and offers him another chance: join the team as the statistician. With his community reeling and the team just finding its footing on the court, can Tony find a path to healing while helping to bring the Sabres a championship?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Former NBA All-Star Butler and author Reynolds (It's the End of the World and I'm in My Bathing Suit) deliver a touching series opener about a community mourning in the aftermath of deadly police violence. Milwaukee middle schooler Tony Washington idolizes Dante, his friend and a high school basketball star who is the country's number-two-ranked player. When Dante is murdered by a white police officer, the event causes Tony to grapple with disheartening truths about life in his underprivileged community, Oasis Springs. Hoping to follow in Dante's footsteps, Tony tries out for Coach James's Amateur Athletic Union team, the Sabres. Coach instead persuades Tony to become the team's statistician, citing his analytical skills, and a tournament provides Tony an outlet to see the world beyond Oasis Springs, even as his community struggles with their grief. Butler and Reynolds compassionately explore heavy themes such as mental health, police violence, and toxic masculinity via Tony's camaraderie with his teammates and his tense family dynamics. While predictable at times, this bustling narrative is brimming with exciting, detailed basketball scenes and moving life lessons about the things one takes for granted, the importance of community, and the will to succeed despite stacked odds. Most characters are Black. Ages 8–12.
