Shooting Stars

June 22, 2009
James, the highest-paid athlete (including endorsement deals) in the NBA, turns to Bissinger (Friday Night Lights
) to tell the story of his meteoric rise as a high school basketball player, when he and his teammates took a private school in Ohio to state and national championships. Looking back at the media circus that put him on the cover of Sports Illustrated
at 17, James accuses the media of overexposing him for their own benefit. It feels like the young superstar is working out some grudges against the athletic officials who challenged his amateur status after he accepted two jerseys from a sporting goods store as a gift, along with his school for failing to take his side in the controversy, but Bissinger smoothes out the rough edges, letting very little anger show. That polish is the as-told-to memoir's biggest problem—despite stylistic flourishes like shifting to present tense to write about James's big games, his passion seems muted. James hits all the right moments, from the childhood promise he made to himself to put Akron on the map to the graduation day photo with his teammates, but it's a story readers hear rather than feel.

This memoir of coming-of-age chronicles the exploits and growing pains (beginning at age 10) of Lebron James and his youth basketball team, The Shooting Stars of Akron, Ohio. With emphasis on being true to oneself and one's teammates, SHOOTING STARS is a classic study of how sports helps inner-city youths become disciplined, contributing young men on the verge of winning a national championship. As narrator, Moe Irvin is as cool as the other side of the pillow in July. Irvin speaks at an easy, free-flowing pace that is both strong and youthful. This account is recommended not only for sports fans but also for those who have a deep interest in accounts of the human condition. J.P.D. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine