Biblio Reviews

"Running ain't nothing I ever had to practice. It's just something I knew how to do," explains Castle "Ghost" Cranshaw from Jason Reynolds's National Book Award finalist  Ghost  (2016) when he comes across a track practice on his meandering run home from school one afternoon. A seventh grader, Ghost also has "a lot of scream in him" that has resulted in many altercations at school that have put him on a path to delinquency. This scream implanted itself into Ghost three years before on that terrifying night when he and his mother dashed barefoot out of their house and hid in the storage room of Mr. Charles's neighborhood convenient store. "That was the night I learned how to run," he adds. Except, so far, he's been running in circles. That all changes, however, when Ghost crashes a track practice because he takes a dislike to one of the athletes's "cocky swagger." Ghost wants a showdown to prove that this cock...

Kwame Alexander's The Crossover (2014) is not a stereotypical basketball story: It isn't about impoverished black boys from a single parent female-headed household living in a crime-ridden neighborhood who play basketball to escape. Rather, it is a universal story of growing up, of family, and of love told in narrative verse (poetry). Related from the perspective of Josh "Filthy McNasty" Bell, The Crossover is about the experiences of almost thirteen year-old twins Josh and Jordan (JB) in a year when everything changes: JB's interests and time are no longer exclusive to basketball, which challenges Josh's sense of identity, and their father is facing a health crisis for which he refuses to seek medical help. In the end, after facing some adversity and developing some maturity, the boys move forward, united in their bond and responsibilities. Other than his vibrant use of language, a strong narrative voice, and his realistic portrayal of the speed, hea...

More than a story about football, Carl Deuker's  Payback Time  (2010) is really a story about identity and growing up. It tells the story of Daniel "Mitch" True, a Lincoln High School journalist seeking to make a name for himself during his senior year. Enter Angel Marichal, an enigmatic and NFL-talented transfer who shies away from his much-deserved spotlight. The search to find out Angel's secrets is the mystery that propels Daniel's investigative work. Through the experience, Dan learns that reporting the truth has consequences. In the end, the mystery is really the secondary story, for the true takeaway is in Daniel's transformation from an overweight, unconfident nerd seeking to redefine himself by making a splash as a reporter to being a young, fitter, and confident man coming into his own, satisfied with being a work in progress. Nicknamed "Mitch," short for the Michelin Man during his freshman year because of his weight,  Daniel chooses t...