Kids' Books We Love
Book reviews from Youth Services
Travel Team
Lupica, Mike
Publisher: Philomel Books
Number of Pages: 274
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Genres:
Sports
Material Type/Location:
Youth Fiction
Reading Level:
4-5
6-8
Why I liked this title:
This is a wonderful story about Danny, a great basketball player, whose only problem when it comes to the game he loves is his size. He's usually the smallest player on the court. However, the story is so much more than basketball. It's about friendship, especially between Danny and his best friends Will and Tess. It's also a great family book based on a wonderful relationship between Danny and his mother Ali and the growing relationship between Will and his father Ritchie. This is a perfect book for a family to read together and discuss. I give it two thumbs up!!!!
This title is also available on compact disc. and downloadable audiobook for Skokie Public Library cardholders
Reviewed by: Ron Oberman on 1/13/2009
More than anything else, Danny loves to play basketball; and he is crushed when he fails to make the seventh grade travel team supposedly because he is too short. But Danny's failure to make the team may be more related to the bad blood between the coach of the travel team and Danny's father, Richie. A former NBA star, Richie led his travel team to a national championship when he was 12 years old. Divorced from Danny's mother and often unreliable, Richie returns to town and decides to try to support his son by forming his own travel team. Richie builds a team out of a group of misfits with a lot of heart who gradually learn to dominate the court. The action culminates in a dramatic showdown between two rival teams. This is much more than the usual sports story and it will be enjoyed even by those who aren't basketball fans. The author grabs the reader by creating a story about family, about friendship, and about the kind of character it takes to really be part of a team.
Reviewed by: Susan Heist Carlton on 6/3/2010
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John Feinstein
Margaret Peterson Haddix
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