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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
DNF'd (skim read)
Definitely a cool, slice of life style read for those interested in basketball, but otherwise it's pretty boring. Nothing amazing happens. Because I primarily skim read, no rating given
Definitely a cool, slice of life style read for those interested in basketball, but otherwise it's pretty boring. Nothing amazing happens. Because I primarily skim read, no rating given
emotional
funny
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I don’t usually read sports books, as I’ve never really cared for sports outside of track, but I decided to give this one a go. As my first sports fiction book, I think it did a good job.
The book is about an Ojibwe teenager named Tre Braun, whose older brother died in a car accident a year ago. As a way to keep his memory going, he invests his time into playing basketball and eventually works his way up the basketball ranks. His main goal is for his high school team to make it to the state championship, as they would be first Native team to do so.
I was a bit surprised at how enjoyable this book was. While it does mainly focus on basketball, there’s plenty of moments where it focuses on Tre’s life as a teenager on a reservation. It was quite a refresher to go from tense basketball games to Tre dealing with average teenage things. Dealing with the grief of losing his brother, romance, parties.
Though, there was only one subplot I felt was unnecessary. While I do love Khiana, I feel her heavy presence in the first half of the book was a bit unnecessary. She pretty much only existed to be Tre’s love interest, and once that wasn’t happening she very quickly became a background character. And I feel having Tre fall out with Wes over Khiana could’ve been removed from the story and nothing would’ve changed. Wes would still do his documentary clips, and he’d still contact Slam Magazine.
Overall, I’m giving this book four stars. Despite not knowing any basketball terms while reading this book, it wasn’t hard to figure out the general gist of things. Decent plot, enjoyable writing style, and characters I adore give this a solid rating in my book. <3
The book is about an Ojibwe teenager named Tre Braun, whose older brother died in a car accident a year ago. As a way to keep his memory going, he invests his time into playing basketball and eventually works his way up the basketball ranks. His main goal is for his high school team to make it to the state championship, as they would be first Native team to do so.
I was a bit surprised at how enjoyable this book was. While it does mainly focus on basketball, there’s plenty of moments where it focuses on Tre’s life as a teenager on a reservation. It was quite a refresher to go from tense basketball games to Tre dealing with average teenage things. Dealing with the grief of losing his brother, romance, parties.
Overall, I’m giving this book four stars. Despite not knowing any basketball terms while reading this book, it wasn’t hard to figure out the general gist of things. Decent plot, enjoyable writing style, and characters I adore give this a solid rating in my book. <3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Grief
Moderate: Racism
This was honestly a really stressful read which I think was partially the point but was not what I needed during a packed week of STEM major college. A lot of the basketball jargan went over my head as well, but I knew it was a bball book going in and that Im probably not the target audience. Regardless the representation within this book is important and based loosely on events in the author’s life. Graves did a wonderful job of showing the interconnectedness on the Rez of families, friends, basketball, grief, and the legacies made. It also said some important things about drugs and alcohol and the impact it has on your game. Overall this book is good, but not meant for me. So while I didnt lOve it, I would still recommend it, especially to sports or bball fans.
This was great. It read like an Ojibwe-fied Disney Channel Original Movie from the 2000s. All the basketball action managed to be really tense and exciting even though I barely knew what they were talking about. I loved how emotionally aware the characters were (at least most of the time). The author's note says that this story is largely based on his experience playing basketball growing up, and I feel like that authenticity really shines through. Overall, this was a very triumphant and heartwarming read.
hopeful
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
This was really good. The pacing around the basketball season was great, and the tension and stakes of the games plus the pressure to perform, and the grief of loss experienced by Tre and every other character really come together as a team in this stellar debut novel.
This book has received so much praise. I blew it off as just another basketball book. I was wrong. This book is so much more than basketball. I was so invested in Tre’s story, so much so that I cried TWICE (one happiness, one sadness) in this basketball book. And I loved listening to the book even more as I could hear the Ojibwe language authentically, instead of as assumptions in my brain.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Grief, Car accident, Alcohol