Booked by Kwame Alexander

This book-in-verse (or is it verse-in-book? novel-in-verse? or a novel inverse? or inverse novel? I shouldn't be writing a book review last crazy week of school) about a boy who loves soccer and is dealing with the divorce of his parents. Kwame Alexander can pound out images and rhythms that will make you beat through the pages like a drummer. While "Crossover," the 2015 Newbery Winner was on basketball this one is on soccer. Except the sport takes back seat to the power of words as Nick Hall learns to use them against teachers, parents, wooing a girl, and friends at school. He says he hates words since his dad is a professor and "verbomaniac" who has written a dictionary he's making Nick memorize. But Nick likes words. If he didn't he wouldn't fling around words like "limerence," "codswallop," or "ragabash". This story might leave you with "onomatophobia", but it sure is a heck-of-alot of fun.

Twelve-year-old Nick Hall daydreams in class getting the teacher's unwanted attention. He uses words in a clever way to charm her on to Team Nick before using the same technique to get a girlfriend. Although shy and scared of girls, his words come through for him in the end. His mom and dad are splitting up and he goes through grief as his athletic mom leaves to train horses in Kentucky. When he expresses how upset he is he finds the power of words to bring his mom back and find some equilibrium in a rough time. Cody is his soccer friend who he joke-brags with they are on rival soccer teams and will play each other in a prestigious tournament. When things fall apart, the rapping librarian hooks Nick onto reading and a book club where he discovers books help him articulate what he's going through in his life at the moment (and win the girl of his dreams).

The end doesn't tell the reader what was in the mysterious dragonfly box. A dragonfly symbolizes change and self-realization which is Nick's character arc in the story. If I had time I'd look into rappers. I'm sure the author is doing more with the verses than I can tell but I'm on a break away - I have a parent waiting for this book at the circulation desk and I'm trying to write this as fast as I can. If I shoot this review over the goal or you think it is ragabash, that's why.  (Ah... I see on my labels/tags that I usually use novel-in-verse. Long day.)

5 Smileys

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown

Joe Rantz is an unlikely hero in this nonfiction tale about nine boys that went to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The son of a tinkerer who had many jobs, Joe was kicked out of his family home during the Depression because they were not able to feed him and his stepmom didn't want him around. He had to fend for himself as a ten-year-old and later as a teenager as hard times hit. This upbringing made the college-age Joe that went out for the rowing team, much different than a kid of growing up privileged. Rowing requires mental and physical toughness that tests athletes in extreme ways. Joe had the right makeup, but he also needed to learn to trust his fellow teammates. The author shows how Joe matures along with the other nine rowers in a way that make them stronger as one unit versus individually. This inspirational book was hard for me to put down.

Daniel James Brown learned about Joe's rowing career directly from him and other family members and it sure-as-heck shows in the plot. Brown's intimate details on Joe's feelings make it read like a narration, brimming with drama and suspense. The story is rounded out with historical details on the Depression and the war as German Nazi's rose to power. The details of foliage, trees, and animals from the Northwest create a strong setting and it is easy to get lost in the story as it unfolds.

The details of rowing do not bog down the plot as it is balanced by the emotional, human story of Joe Rantz's strange upbringing. Brown juggles the story elements well and uses tension in competition, The Depression, and Nazi Germany to ratchet the drama up several notches. The cheating that was done to try to win the race does paint the Germans as one-dimensional villains, but Brown also shows Germany's attempt to be equal with other world powers. The Ministry of Propaganda was a ruthless way to push a glorified image of Germany that hid its dark intolerant and superior side.

This tale reminded me of "Unbroken," because it is a story of triumph and survival in difficult times. Brown's research is impressive as he tackles the intricacies of rowing along with giving a historical overview of the tough times facing people in the 1930s. He dramatizes the slumps the rowers go through during different seasons and builds to an exciting climax. My husband and I just moved to Seattle and are going to trek to the University of Washington's Conibear Shellhouse to see the "Husky Clipper" rowboat that was used in the 1936 games. I can't wait. Don't miss this one.

5 Smileys

Strike Three, You're Dead by Josh Berk

Lenny is a doofus that is easy to love. My favorite scene is when Maria, a girl Lenny has just met, grabs his bike from him when he offers to give her a ride. Maria makes Lenny sit on the handlebars while she pedals like the figurehead of a ship. He is wearing a helmet that matches the Mikes. That's right. He has two best friends named, Mike and Other Mike. A nice play on words for a kid who is terrific at announcing baseball games. In fact, he's so good that he won a contest to announce the 6th inning of a Phillie's game. When a 19-year-old upcoming pitcher drops dead on the mound, Lenny and the Mikes decide to solve the mystery of his death. Lenny's not much of an athletic. When Maria takes off racing the Mikes on their bikes with Lenny on the handlebar she causes Lenny's head to fling back like he's on a roller coaster. Maria keeps smacking the back of his helmet and she wins the race easily. I appreciate authors that upend stereotypes. These quirky characters are guaranteed to make you laugh with their witty descriptions, silly dialogue, and close friendship.

Time out. Can I tell you a story? Good. The reason I love this novel's bike scene is that it reminds me of the my first scooter ride with my husband when we moved to Taipei, Taiwan. His midlife crisis was to buy a sporty red scooter. I bought a metallic pink helmet. Very kicky. We'd never owned a scooter and the first ride into the mountains on a summer day was stressful. After starting the engine, he held the scooter while I tried to launch myself behind him. I got half a leg and thigh over before almost topping us to the ground. "Holy Cow!" he yelled barely keeping it upright. By the time I got on the back he took off only to have his Minnesota dairy cow-of-a-wife whack her cute pink helmet against his. I tried to wrap my arms around him, but like two bobble-heads we kept thunking helmets every time he changed speed. Thunk, thunk, thunk went our helmets just getting out of the parking lot. "Man, would you stop hitting me?" My husband said over his shoulder. "Put your visor up!" I'm thinking there is no way in bloody 'ell that I'm gonna put my visor up unless I have a mouth guard. We get into the street and I start to perspire. Not the slight perspiration you get from a brisk walk, but the run-down-the-leg-in-a-stream sweat. Taipei is littered with a bazillion scooters, buses to dodge, cars pulling in and out willy-nilly, and people everywhere. I had visions of us being road kill. "Ugh... you're sweating on me," he muttered. I only slid off the back of the bike once going up a switch back. The scooter has since been sold. But I digress. Honest, this book will have you snorting food out your nose. When Lenny tries to seal a spit-handshake with Maria he can't project enough saliva so he licks his hand. (That reminded me of Junie B. Jones licking her patent leather shoes clean so they'd shine.) The author cleverly uses baseball metaphors and similes throughout the book to strengthen the setting and characters that firmly anchors the baseball plot.

This isn't like a sports novel where the character is playing the game, it is about the character that loves the game. Lenny is an avid fan who loves trivial facts about the game, watching the game, and pretend announcing the game. It is through this skill that the boys are able to solve the mystery of the dead pitcher. Lenny would like to grow up and be a sports announcer. His father and mother are both cardiologists who would like him to go to med school. So often kids are at odds with their parents' vision of a career. The librarian calls Lenny and the Mikes, Cerberus, because they like answer in unison, wear matching bike helmets, and can act like three-headed monsters at times. When Maria joins the trio he changes their name to Brahma, the four-headed god. He mocks, "'Instead of the three of you guys acting as one, now you're a four-headed beast. What dangers hath I wrought?' he said. Then he smiled. Librarians are sort of weird."

The author fleshes out these characters with unique voices. When Lenny makes a video for an announcing contest he paints a mustache on his face with a marker then delivers some witty lines. The author balances wit with silly humor that readers will love, such as "pee" and "fart." This week I had 3rd graders changing the html code from "TAS Lower School Library" to "Poop is Awesome." The "poop" word just tickles their funny fecal bone. They would have liked Lenny's joke about and IP address as an I pee address. Although the Lenny trio doesn't enter the poop joke zone. The great descriptions of characters had me sitting through a faculty meeting thinking, Oh look, those two look like the number 10. "Mrs. Other Mike was always laughing. She was as plump and short as Mr. Other Mike was tall and skinny. Standing next to each other, they looked like the number ten." While describing a ball player's huge hands Lenny says they looked like "five magic wands." Then there is the goofy Other Mike that adores Warlock video games and doesn't really like baseball.

The entire novel has baseball metaphors that enrich the text in serious and humorous ways. When he is laying down in bed trying to sleep he can't because questions are zooming through his head like "fastballs crossing the plate. Zoom! Did R.J. Weathers really have a heart attack? Whoosh! Is that possible for someone so young and so healthy? Whiz! Could it be possible that he was killed? Zip! Was that crazy PhilzFan1 somehow involved?" The plot is stretched in some places but it is so dang funny, I didn't care. The villain could have been fleshed out more and the ending felt a bit rushed too, but there is a sequel, so I went online and ordered it for our library.

Maria is a strong character and even Courtney, who appears stereotypical at first, is an atypical babysitter. Different themes add depth to the plot such as inappropriate use of the Internet and untended consequences. Maria is not careful with her wording on a fan site and it is misconstrued getting her in trouble. Another theme involves the difficulties that Cuban players face trying to get into United State's major league baseball. Also, when Mike is told to go out for catcher on the school team, Lenny has to deal with his feelings about why this makes him unhappy. He's rude to Mike until he acts like a true friend that wants what is best for Mike. Josh Berk has great command of his fastball in this "razzle-dazzle" novel. Add it to your book shelves.

4 Smileys

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

Kwame Alexander is a poet who is not afraid to experiment. His choice of fiction verse mirrors the rhythm of the sport basketball and music. Now, I'm no musician. Nor am I poet. But I did see quite a bit going on in this terrific story that layers the complexity of family relationships with the beat of a bouncing basketball. From the beginning chapter you have a concrete poem using gerunds to reflect the movement of the sport and its fast pace. When I Googled "gerunds" and "poetry" I saw quite a few hits that said to avoid it when writing poems. Most argue that gerunds are passive; however, Alexander shows that it has a musical quality that reflects the action of basketball. His sentences don't come across passive. They move. Nor do they stick with one literary format. No worries. You don't get chapter-upon-chapter of gerunds. Alexander uses this style mostly when the protagonist is on the court with the ball playing a ratta-tat-tat beat off the palm of his hand. You could call this book style a "crossover" of experimentation that is a slam dunk in the end. While the topic is more middle school, grade 5 students will like it as well. A great addition to your library.

Josh Bell and his thirteen-year-old twin brother, J.B, are phenomenal middle school basketball players. Josh goes by the nickname, Filthy McNasty, from a song by jazz musician, Horace Silver. Josh can dunk the ball and likes how his dreadlocks separate him from J.B's shaved head. He's a forward and J.B. is a shooting guard. When J.B. falls in love, Josh finds he doesn't like being alone. Rather than dealing with his anger in a healthy way, he takes it out on the court with the basketball.

Josh's mom is an assistant principal of the school and she won't tolerate Josh's physical display of anger. She punishes him and J.B. won't talk to Josh. Meanwhile Josh can't seem to fix the mess he's created because he won't face his feelings. The subtle storyline is an understatement in the complexities of relationships. Josh's dad played professional basketball in Europe before an injury ended his career. His health is not the best and while the mom seems to understand the seriousness of his hypertension, the boys do not. When she argues with the dad about taking care of himself, the dad charms his way out of her concern causing her to put off forcing him going to the doctor.

The author creates an authentic voice in this middle class family and ego of a good athlete. Josh likes the glory of the game and being the top goal-scorer on the team. He talks big about his skills and even when he fails he has this positive mental image of himself doing great feats on the court. This imagery makes it no surprise that he performs well under pressure in the big game. It also shows why he decided to play in the game at the end versus being with his family. He is similar to his father in his love of basketball. They both love the crowds and Josh deals with life by playing the sport. He says he won't miss the game for a "maybe" and it is unclear what will happen to his dad.

In an interesting question-question session between father and son it becomes clear that his dad knows he'll play in the game. And I meant question-question, not question-answer. The two kind of answer each other and kind of don't. The father knows that the J.B. won't play in the big game and he wants Josh to play. He knows that he would do the same thing if he was in the Josh's position. Later when Josh has to make the decision he admits as much. I did have to go back and read the chapter, "For Dad" because I missed the importance of it the first time around. It confused me because I didn't understand the communication going on between J.B. and Josh. Alexander is very subtle with details. Plus, I was distracted by the format. I liked the non-rhyming couplets in this chapter. The choice creates white space with minimal words accenting the inner turmoil of Josh as he is on the court with his thoughts.  The imagery and emotion packed into such a small space is like a punch or bounce of a basketball. Quick and punctuated.

The chapter on Josh's play-by-play is supposed to sound like an announcer's voice. Again it shows Josh fantasizing he's a great star or player, a common activity athletes or viewers do in sports. The format is mostly free verse but there is wordplay and rhyming that has a lyrical quality. I really enjoyed the energetic use of poetry that reflects basketball and the characters' emotions.

Josh likes learning new words and the chapters that define them also show him trying to understand his relationship with his dad and brother. The short chapters on Rules in basketball are more rules for living life and having healthy relationships with others. Josh is intelligent and cocky with an introspective ability that makes the reader know that he will be productive person who can live a happy life.

5 Smileys

Sasquatch in the Paint (Streetball Crew, #1) by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Raymond Obstfeld

Basketball does not dominate this plot but supports the themes of growing up, learning to manage time, and making friends. Good character development and a fast pace kept me engrossed in this story. Theo Rollins has grown six inches over the summer and is on the 8th grade basketball team. When Coach Mandrake decides to create an offense around Theo's height he feels pressure to improve his game. He's not an experienced, good player. In fact, the coach implies he might get kicked off the team if he doesn't improve. Theo decides to engage in some pickup games but the extra work hurts his other after school activity which is his science club's trivia competition. Unable to keep up with the two he must decide how he'll spend his time. When his cousin is the victim of a theft and Theo is accused of the crime, he finds that he's running out of time for everything.

The theme of managing time and learning to be responsible is one every coach watches young adults go through. Some can manage heavy loads and others can't. When Coach Mandrake threatens to kick Theo off the team if he doesn't perform, I didn't really think buy it. Coach knows Theo is inexperienced and it seemed that it was only the team's second game - I never did get a clear indication of how far into the season they were. Mandrake also spends time pointing out Theo's mistakes when he should have been pointing out the strengths he could build on. By the time he does it is on page 178, but then he implies that if the team loses on Friday, Theo would be off the team. I know the author was trying to up the tension for Theo, but it was contradictory. I don't coach basketball but what I've observed is that most basketball coaches will go out of their way to develop a kid that has height and potential.

A nice tie-in with teamwork was Theo's observation that his science club team didn't work as well together as his basketball team. They were too individualistic. The end shows how the basketball team worked together to try and overcome a taller, stronger team and how Theo realized that he could use his intelligence and creativity to try and break the opponents down. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. That was another reason the Coach threat didn't jive with me. Players take more risks when they know they are supported by the coach and they can be creative. Of course, I am a female and I only know girl sports which is quite different than boy sports. And I've never coached boys. I'm no expert so take my musings as is... just musings.

The characters are engaging from Theo's internal struggles with growing up and not wanting his dad to treat him as a kid to him grieving the death of his mom and his family trying to move on. Brian is Theo's sidekick and adds great humor. The girl, Rain, is strong-willed and not afraid to speak her mind or follow the crowd. She's unpredictable and interesting as a character. Gavin looks like a self-centered jerk, but he has an introspective side that actually helps Theo deal with his basketball woes. What begins as a one-dimensional, racist twit turns into someone that is insecure and bluffs his way with others to cover it up.

The plot maybe tries too hard to hit different ethnic backgrounds having minority characters dealing with racism. There was comments regarding the Asian boy, Jewish boy, Muslim family, and being a female. While I really liked the rapport between Brian and Theo and their discussions, I thought the Muslim boys were somewhat stereotypical with using violence against their cousin. I really liked the BIB  "Because I'm Black" jar that represented not making excuses for your skin color. When Theo talks to his dad about the game and blames the kids in the stands for his poor performance because they were calling him names such as monkey, his dad made him put a dollar in the BIB jar. Theo's mom started the jar as a way of not using racism as an excuse. She once blamed a high charge from a repairman on being female. Theo and his dad told her to put a dollar in the jar. The jar wasn't just for Theo but the adults as well. It is a good reminder to not be angry and point fingers at others but take responsibility for actions. Name-calling in sports is meant to rattle a person and Theo had to find a way to deal with his anger. Today, racism in European soccer exists with fans tossing banana peels at black players on opposing teams. One soccer player picked up the banana and ate it, using humor to try and make the tosser look foolish and show he didn't care. Racism is ugly. People have to find a way to deal with it in a healthy manner.

There are some funny lines in this book. When Theo has a confrontation with a kid in the cafeteria he observed that "Everyone returned to what they were doing as if nothing had happened. Theo thought everything in middle school was like that. Students went through the day like pets on a leash. When something shiny or loud caught their attention, they all looked and barked for a few seconds, then continued walking until they passed the next shiny or loud thing." I have some noisy middle schoolers stampeding by my library right now. This book is a "skyhook" winner shot.

4 Smileys

Plunked by Michael Northrop

I toss the softball straight up, eye its descent like a hawk, before swinging the aluminum bat hard while pivoting my hips; a satisfying thud shatters the silence as the ball sails into the net. I repeat the cathartic motion again and again: toss, smash, toss, smash, toss smash. I love sports... especially baseball. I got a chance to play slow pitch last Tuesday and had a blast just tossing the ball up and clobbering it into the pitching net. A peacefulness settles on me like dust on the field when I hit or play catch. Reading Plunked is like reliving the joy of playing ball all over again from the author's description of the pitching machine making "fa-chunk" noises to the excitement of coming from behind in a close game. If you don't love baseball, you won't love this book, so don't bother picking it up if you are expecting more. The story is somewhat short on plot, and the interesting parts take place on the field.

Jack Mogens is a sixth grader who plays baseball with his friends and has a crush on a girl on their team. He's trying to win a starting spot on the team against another player and his best friend, Andy, plays for the team as well. Malfoy used to be his friend but he's become a nasty piece of work that hates Jack.  When Jack gets hit by a pitch he has serious issues with being afraid of the ball and wonders if he'll ever play again. He starts to lie to others rather than deal with the problem and while he's trying to hide the fact, everyone seems to know what is going on. Or they are giving him time to deal with it.

This light-hearted novel has a great voice in Jack who sounds like a doofy 6th-grader as he tries to talk cool with his friends calling each other "dingus" and other dumb names. Readers will laugh at the "jerk-butts" and middle school humor. The friendship between Andy and Jack is quite real and I liked how Andy tells him to "deal with it" and move on but doesn't overtalk the problem. Malfoy is one-dimensional. I thought more would happen with him in the story or the two would confront each other but that never materializes.

I would have preferred more tension and depth, but some will like the simplistic plot. I thought the chapters were too short with not enough tension or depth added. When Jack is sitting with his family I got bored and didn't see how it advanced the plot. Maybe if there had been some foreshadowing to crank up the tension? I wanted more from the story. More about Jack's fear. More about working as a team. More about the friendships. Sport stories tend to focus on characters overcoming obstacles, the emphasis of team over individual glory, good sportsmanship, and so on. While this touched on that it didn't go as deep as I wanted. That said, I am an adult looking at a story for children and the topics I'm interested in are going to be different than a child's; I don't think students will care that the story isn't complex but will enjoy it for what it is.

At first I thought Jack's injury wasn't really serious enough, but then I thought about how fast and hard pitchers can throw in Little League and it is entirely possible for Jack to get that scared. My husband was 10 years old and had to lie immobile, in a hospital bed for a week, after a pitcher hit him in the eye. He almost lost his eye. I took a  fall off the high bars in gymnastics as an 11 year old that terrified me. I only knocked the wind out of my lungs but I'll never forget trying to suck in air and not being able to. I've knocked the wind out of my lungs many times since then, but it has never been as bad or as frightening as that high bar experience, and like Jack, I had nightmares about it. Sports force athletes to face fears in many ways, whether from accidents or learning new skills, and sometimes, those fears can be irrational. But they are very real and can be very crippling. This book explores that theme in a way that is satisfying and different, and for that reason, I highly recommend it.

Reading Level 4.5
3 Smileys