From GoodreadsAn exciting, eye-catching repackage of acclaimed author Walter Dean Myers' bestselling paperbacks, to coincide with the publication of SUNRISE OVER FALLUJAH in hardcover.
Seventeen-year-old Greg "Slam" Harris can do it all on the basketball court. He's seen ballplayers come and go, and he knows he could be one of the lucky ones. Maybe he'll make it to the top. Or maybe he'll stumble along the way. Slam's grades aren't that hot. And when his teachers jam his troubles in his face, he blows up.
Slam never doubted himself on the court until he found himself going one-on-one with his own future, and he didn't have the ball.
Goodreads - Slam!
Awards and Nominations:
- Coretta Scott King Award for Author (1997)
- South Carolina Book Award for Young Adult Book Award (1999)
I remember being in elementary school, maybe fourth grade, and I asked my Mom if I could play basketball that winter. The only other sport I attempted was tee-ball when I was in kindergarten. As soon as I was to move up to machine pitch I was out of the softball game. That being said, my loving mother kindly informed me that it was a contact sport where I would have to run and there was a possibility of being hit with a ball. I quickly decided that I did NOT want to play basketball. Looking back I wish my parents would have pushed me to play a sport. I think it would have made me more of a "team player". That being said "Slam!" is all about basketball and all about being a team player and good sport on and off the court.
Slam is just a typical kid growing up on a shady block in New York. Drug deals go down around him and he knows people that are dealing. He has been lucky enough to get in at an art magnet school, but it is unfortunately full of white kids. Slam finds that he doesn't quite fit in, but hopes to if he joins the basketball team. It seems that everyone has it out for him, and he thinks it is because he is black. Slam must learn from one of his coaches how to be a team player and a good person on and off the court so that maybe he can get out of the hood and into a good school with a scholarship.
As I mentioned earlier I didn't play sports. I grew up watching football because that is all my hometown would eat, sleep, or breathe. So I gradually learned the terms and what thinks meant, even though I never played. So it is safe to say that I am lacking in the sports interest department. This entire book is centered around basketball and it is to the point that if you don't understand what a pick is or what a box-and-one is then you are going to be totally lost. Every time Slam went to practice or to a game I internally groaned and tried to power through it as quickly as I could. That being said I think there are ways the book could have had the strong basketball theme, but getting across more of a message. I think the overall plot was weak in this book. If someone close to Slam would have died, such as his grandma, Ice, Mtisha, or Bianca then it would have had a more emotional pull in the book. This could have easily been pulled in with the drug dealing that was happening in his neighborhood. I also think that there should have been more focus on Slam's education. I think that with him being an African American character many kids reading this book will connect with him. They will see that he was struggling with school and never really got help, and they will think that life will work out for them too if they just focus on sports and never improve their grades. I think that Myers had a lot of opportunities to write a character that could be looked up to, but I also feel he wrote a very realistic character who just believes that everything will work out and he can ride a basketball scholarship to fame and fortune.
This book does have a few sexual references. I'm not entirely sure that a fifth- or sixth-grader would pick up on them, but an upper middle school and high school student absolutely would. The book is very dated as it brings up HIV/AIDs multiple times and talks about video cameras and VCRs. In the 90s these were all big things, but in 2020 not so much.
Overall, this wasn't my type of book. It is packed with basketball terms and references and I was beyond lost. I think it could have had a stronger message and plot. I give it 1 star. It is on the Coretta Scott King award list so I was going to have to read it sooner or later. I think boys, especially those who play basketball, would really enjoy this book.
Slam is just a typical kid growing up on a shady block in New York. Drug deals go down around him and he knows people that are dealing. He has been lucky enough to get in at an art magnet school, but it is unfortunately full of white kids. Slam finds that he doesn't quite fit in, but hopes to if he joins the basketball team. It seems that everyone has it out for him, and he thinks it is because he is black. Slam must learn from one of his coaches how to be a team player and a good person on and off the court so that maybe he can get out of the hood and into a good school with a scholarship.
As I mentioned earlier I didn't play sports. I grew up watching football because that is all my hometown would eat, sleep, or breathe. So I gradually learned the terms and what thinks meant, even though I never played. So it is safe to say that I am lacking in the sports interest department. This entire book is centered around basketball and it is to the point that if you don't understand what a pick is or what a box-and-one is then you are going to be totally lost. Every time Slam went to practice or to a game I internally groaned and tried to power through it as quickly as I could. That being said I think there are ways the book could have had the strong basketball theme, but getting across more of a message. I think the overall plot was weak in this book. If someone close to Slam would have died, such as his grandma, Ice, Mtisha, or Bianca then it would have had a more emotional pull in the book. This could have easily been pulled in with the drug dealing that was happening in his neighborhood. I also think that there should have been more focus on Slam's education. I think that with him being an African American character many kids reading this book will connect with him. They will see that he was struggling with school and never really got help, and they will think that life will work out for them too if they just focus on sports and never improve their grades. I think that Myers had a lot of opportunities to write a character that could be looked up to, but I also feel he wrote a very realistic character who just believes that everything will work out and he can ride a basketball scholarship to fame and fortune.
This book does have a few sexual references. I'm not entirely sure that a fifth- or sixth-grader would pick up on them, but an upper middle school and high school student absolutely would. The book is very dated as it brings up HIV/AIDs multiple times and talks about video cameras and VCRs. In the 90s these were all big things, but in 2020 not so much.
Overall, this wasn't my type of book. It is packed with basketball terms and references and I was beyond lost. I think it could have had a stronger message and plot. I give it 1 star. It is on the Coretta Scott King award list so I was going to have to read it sooner or later. I think boys, especially those who play basketball, would really enjoy this book.
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