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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
Basketball just makes me… :’)
I had a Wizenard of my own in high school. She taught me SO MUCH about basketball and life and she was really the most wonderful coach I could’ve asked for. She was definitely a little magic.
I miss this sport and the feeling of Team so damn much and this book did a little to patch up the hole that graduating left inside me.
It goes to show that even a kids book about twelve-year-olds is still good for an adult’s soul <3
“You are stardust and light. If they cannot see that, then you have chosen to hide it.”
I had a Wizenard of my own in high school. She taught me SO MUCH about basketball and life and she was really the most wonderful coach I could’ve asked for. She was definitely a little magic.
I miss this sport and the feeling of Team so damn much and this book did a little to patch up the hole that graduating left inside me.
It goes to show that even a kids book about twelve-year-olds is still good for an adult’s soul <3
“You are stardust and light. If they cannot see that, then you have chosen to hide it.”
Great premise but this book is literally one week in five perspectives. As in the week plays out five times just different people. It got really boring…on round two.
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’m gonna be honest, this book was a nightmare to read. Basically you follow several characters and each chapter is the EXACT same events viewed by each character. Which means the exact same dialogues.
It was incredibly boring to read the exact same lines 5 times. The whole book is just a repetition. This book could have been much shorter if the dialogues weren’t written exactly the same at every chapter.
It was a poor writing decision. Every character sounds the same, none is lovable.
It was incredibly boring to read the exact same lines 5 times. The whole book is just a repetition. This book could have been much shorter if the dialogues weren’t written exactly the same at every chapter.
It was a poor writing decision. Every character sounds the same, none is lovable.
I enjoyed the magical aspects of this book but did not understand the basketball parts of the book. I have never been a big fan of books revolving around sports so I was not the target audience for this book.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Really cool concept with the seamless combination of fantasy and modern sport.
Have you got a tween who loves basketball and maybe's read a few fantasy stories, but most of them don't hold their attention for too long because...well, the stories don't involve an orange ball? Well, then, this read's for them!
I wish I had found this series when my son, who's now 16 and waaay taller than me, was little. He was bitten by the basketball bug in the third grade and this would have been a perfect read! There were no basketball teams this year, due to COVID, but next year he'll try out again for his high school team. ;-)
You can tell a lot of care went into crafting these stories. It begins with the cover. A layer of luxurious red velvet is laid over the cover and a gold embossed basketball glints in the light.
The books, five in all, are told from the points of view of different players on the West Bottom Badgers team: Rain (the shooter), Twig (the tall man), Cash (the big man), and two brothers, Peño (point guard) and Lab.
The Baders are the worst team in the youth league, set in a fantasy world, a dystopia called Dren. The boys are all on the team for different reasons, but their record's so bad because they each play an "individual" game -- whether consciously or unconsciously. Some do it because they think it's expected (Rain), others because they're afraid of being hurt by teammates (Twig), others because they're actually afraid of hurting someone (Cash), and so on. Problem is, they can't see what they're doing, or why it makes the team so terrible.
Then Professor Rolabi Wizenard walks into the Fairwood Community Center's gym, and they're in for the training camp of their lives. Whether it's shooting from a crumbling plateau, defending against a tiger, storming (or defending) a castle in knight's armor, or getting trapped in the gym as the walls close in on them (Star Wars garbage chute scene nod), their ability to come together as a team will determine if they survive, much less make it onto the team and get to play basketball games and achieve their dreams.
There are so many great morsels in these books and I love that they focus not on the games, but on training camp and each boy's internal struggle, and how that manifests on the court.
An awesome fantasy basketball read!
Teacher's Note:
As a teacher, there's a lot you could do this this book to examine POV -- point of view.
The publisher, Granity Studios, offers a free 7-page Teaching Guide. Unlike other free book guides, you'll have to sign up with your email address to download it, but it came in a few seconds as a pdf file.
I won't post it here, as it's only offered behind the email sign-up wall, but it's a very good teaching guide. The before/during/after reading activities focus on the lessons learned by each individual character; there are 5 after reading discussion questions; an after reading activity that has students assume the roles they would on a basketball team -- defender, point guard, etc. -- and evaluate the character's POV from the assigned role POV and compare / contrast how they differ; evaluate 10 quotes from IRL coaches; a building activity involving spaghetti, jubjubes and masking tape; and even working in pairs on a basketball court to shoot blindfolded! It looks like so much fun to teach!
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
I wish I had found this series when my son, who's now 16 and waaay taller than me, was little. He was bitten by the basketball bug in the third grade and this would have been a perfect read! There were no basketball teams this year, due to COVID, but next year he'll try out again for his high school team. ;-)
You can tell a lot of care went into crafting these stories. It begins with the cover. A layer of luxurious red velvet is laid over the cover and a gold embossed basketball glints in the light.
The books, five in all, are told from the points of view of different players on the West Bottom Badgers team: Rain (the shooter), Twig (the tall man), Cash (the big man), and two brothers, Peño (point guard) and Lab.
The Baders are the worst team in the youth league, set in a fantasy world, a dystopia called Dren. The boys are all on the team for different reasons, but their record's so bad because they each play an "individual" game -- whether consciously or unconsciously. Some do it because they think it's expected (Rain), others because they're afraid of being hurt by teammates (Twig), others because they're actually afraid of hurting someone (Cash), and so on. Problem is, they can't see what they're doing, or why it makes the team so terrible.
Then Professor Rolabi Wizenard walks into the Fairwood Community Center's gym, and they're in for the training camp of their lives. Whether it's shooting from a crumbling plateau, defending against a tiger, storming (or defending) a castle in knight's armor, or getting trapped in the gym as the walls close in on them (Star Wars garbage chute scene nod), their ability to come together as a team will determine if they survive, much less make it onto the team and get to play basketball games and achieve their dreams.
There are so many great morsels in these books and I love that they focus not on the games, but on training camp and each boy's internal struggle, and how that manifests on the court.
An awesome fantasy basketball read!
Teacher's Note:
As a teacher, there's a lot you could do this this book to examine POV -- point of view.
The publisher, Granity Studios, offers a free 7-page Teaching Guide. Unlike other free book guides, you'll have to sign up with your email address to download it, but it came in a few seconds as a pdf file.
I won't post it here, as it's only offered behind the email sign-up wall, but it's a very good teaching guide. The before/during/after reading activities focus on the lessons learned by each individual character; there are 5 after reading discussion questions; an after reading activity that has students assume the roles they would on a basketball team -- defender, point guard, etc. -- and evaluate the character's POV from the assigned role POV and compare / contrast how they differ; evaluate 10 quotes from IRL coaches; a building activity involving spaghetti, jubjubes and masking tape; and even working in pairs on a basketball court to shoot blindfolded! It looks like so much fun to teach!
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
This is a cute story to read or listen to the audio version with children. It was cute, it was inspiring and the audio was like a performance but it was very repetitive. I won’t judge it harshly because it’s supposed to be a children’s book but I did grow bored with it fairly quickly.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes