On Saturday's I am going to feature books that are all about sports! We are pretty big sports fans in our house and I know that many of my students and others are as well!!
I am going to start this off with a goldie oldie!! I read this book when I was in middle school and made sure that it was in my classroom library when I started teaching. It is by the legendary author Walter Dean Meyers who has so many books out there I can't even begin to list them!
The Outside Shot by Walter Dean Meyers is about a boy name Lonnie Jackson who leaves Harlem to take a basketball scholarship at a midwestern college. Lonnie has a lot riding on him because he knows that he has to work hard, keep his head on straight, and keep his record clean. He knows that this is his only chance of making it to the pros one day. Lonnie thinks that he is pretty smart when it comes to most things in life since he grew up in Harlem, but nothing could prepare him for the new pressures that he faces at his college so far from home. He now has tough classes, college ball (which is much different than high school ball), and temptations from local gamblers to fix some of the games. Lonnie has to learn a whole new set of rules for this chapter in his life. Along with learning the new rules and consequences of college, Lonnie has to learn the rules of Sherry, who is very determined to become a track star. Lonnie only has one year to prove that he can make it in the high stakes world of college ball in preparation for the pros. This is his outside shot at a future he so desperately wants.
Again, this is a goldie oldie but it is such a good read. It was published in 1986 and the message that it conveys through the story is still applicable today.
Find out more about Walter Dean Meyers and his books here.
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