Game by Walter Dean Myers    

“In a way it was like a bunch of guys in a game. They were falling behind every minute that passed, but they had lost interest in the score. It was as if they were just a ton behind and had given up on the win. And maybe deep inside they didn’t want to peep the score, maybe they knew what was happening but just didn’t want to think about it anymore. I could understand that. I had played enough ball in my life, and was deep enough into my game to know I had to be in the hunt for a win or I could lose who I was. And once I lost who I was, my inner me, then all the CDs and all the iPods and all the bling in the world wasn’t going to make it right.”

Drew Lawson is a very good basketball player. In fact, as a high school player, he’s way above the average. He knows that if he can work hard and stay out of trouble, he has a very good shot at a college scholarship. He hopes for a Division I school and the opportunity to prove that he’s NBA material.

Drew is thoughtful and when he read Shakespeare’s Othello in English class, he tries to relate it to his own life—is his basketball coach like Iago, the play’s villain? It seems so as he is giving a lot of attention to a new white player from Europe (the Czech Republic). Drew thinks this will decrease his own chances to get scouts interested in him—and thus to realize his dream. But if he’s going to make it in college, he needs to learn to be a team player.

Game has continual basketball action as the Chargers work toward the regionals. A great choice for fans.

High school housekeeping: I really wanted to read a few books over the holiday weekend in anticipation of the READ 180 class visits this week. Game was one and Picture This was the other. The Lexile level for Game is 800, which runs in the 6^th-7^th grade reading levels. The main character, Drew Lawson, is a high school senior, so the novel is certainly meant for teens. You don’t have to be a big basketball fan to enjoy it because it deals with coming-of-age issues—being a ‘team player’ in the larger sense, facing one’s future, having the strength not to get caught up in destructive behaviors. Nevertheless, if you like basketball, there are great games and great plays throughout the book—lots of action. I recommend Game for teens working on their reading skills. It’s quick and it’s fun, with plenty of action to keep you reading to the end.