Mike Lupica’s Middle Grade Basketball Story, Fast Break, Shoots and Scores
Layups. Steals. Foul shots. If you can close your eyes and still hear the sounds of your middle school basketball gym where you played growing up, or your kids are constantly on the court, then sports writer Mike Lupica’s newest middle grade novel, Fast Break, is a must-read.
Fast Break
Hardcover
$11.60
$17.99
Fast Break
By Mike Lupica
Hardcover
$11.60
$17.99
Basketball star Jayson Barnes is tired of scrounging for food and wearing too-small sneakers. He grew up in public housing and playing ball at the Jefferson Houses, or the Jeff, where he’s known as Snap on the court because he’s there, and then, he’s gone. Jayson lived with his mom, who was sick, and her boyfriend, one of many who had left them through the years after his father first did. When Jayson’s mom died, her boyfriend skipped their small North Carolina town, leaving the 12-year-old to fend for himself and try to avoid the foster care system. So he doesn’t tell anyone, not even his teammates, that he was on his own. But the gig is up once Jayson is caught trying to steal a new pair of sneakers. Child Protective Services steps in, and he is assigned a social worker named Ms. Moretti. He is forced to leave his school, his friends, his team, and his basketball court and move across town to a foster home with the Lawtons.
Life might be easier with food always on the table, a nice basketball hoop in the driveway, and a fancy school, but Jayson still misses his home and has a hard time opening up to these new kids on his team and at school. They don’t know him, they didn’t grow up playing ball with him at the Jeff, and he doesn’t want them to know that stealing is the reason he wound up there. When his new basketball team, Belmont Country Day, (which he nicknames Belmont Khaki Day because of the dress code) plays his old basketball team, Moreland East Middle, he has to put his feelings aside so he can help get his new team to victory. Because at the end of the season, the best teams get to go to Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke University to play in the state championship. And that’s all Jayson wants.
Slowly but surely, Jayson starts to get along with the guys at Belmont and his new coach. And he meets a girl named Zoe Montgomery who plays a mean game of soccer. But he still worries they will find out he tried to shoplift those sneakers. What if they won’t understand? What if they look at him differently once they know? Meanwhile, his relationship with the Lawtons is getting easier. Mrs. Lawton grew up in the same part of town as Jayson, so she has a similar background. Jayson is pretty skeptical at first, but the Lawtons just keep showing up, to rebound in the driveway, to support him at games, to be in his life. Throughout the season, Jayson realizes he is strong. And that people don’t always go away.
A feel-good story about important life lessons learned on the basketball court and off, Fast Break is sure to please sports fans and non-sports fans alike. And it might even make you want to go out and shoot a few layups.
Is your young reader a basketball fan?
Basketball star Jayson Barnes is tired of scrounging for food and wearing too-small sneakers. He grew up in public housing and playing ball at the Jefferson Houses, or the Jeff, where he’s known as Snap on the court because he’s there, and then, he’s gone. Jayson lived with his mom, who was sick, and her boyfriend, one of many who had left them through the years after his father first did. When Jayson’s mom died, her boyfriend skipped their small North Carolina town, leaving the 12-year-old to fend for himself and try to avoid the foster care system. So he doesn’t tell anyone, not even his teammates, that he was on his own. But the gig is up once Jayson is caught trying to steal a new pair of sneakers. Child Protective Services steps in, and he is assigned a social worker named Ms. Moretti. He is forced to leave his school, his friends, his team, and his basketball court and move across town to a foster home with the Lawtons.
Life might be easier with food always on the table, a nice basketball hoop in the driveway, and a fancy school, but Jayson still misses his home and has a hard time opening up to these new kids on his team and at school. They don’t know him, they didn’t grow up playing ball with him at the Jeff, and he doesn’t want them to know that stealing is the reason he wound up there. When his new basketball team, Belmont Country Day, (which he nicknames Belmont Khaki Day because of the dress code) plays his old basketball team, Moreland East Middle, he has to put his feelings aside so he can help get his new team to victory. Because at the end of the season, the best teams get to go to Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke University to play in the state championship. And that’s all Jayson wants.
Slowly but surely, Jayson starts to get along with the guys at Belmont and his new coach. And he meets a girl named Zoe Montgomery who plays a mean game of soccer. But he still worries they will find out he tried to shoplift those sneakers. What if they won’t understand? What if they look at him differently once they know? Meanwhile, his relationship with the Lawtons is getting easier. Mrs. Lawton grew up in the same part of town as Jayson, so she has a similar background. Jayson is pretty skeptical at first, but the Lawtons just keep showing up, to rebound in the driveway, to support him at games, to be in his life. Throughout the season, Jayson realizes he is strong. And that people don’t always go away.
A feel-good story about important life lessons learned on the basketball court and off, Fast Break is sure to please sports fans and non-sports fans alike. And it might even make you want to go out and shoot a few layups.
Is your young reader a basketball fan?