Zion Williamson

March 15, 2021
Grades 4-7 Occasionally, a young basketball player thrills spectators with an unusual combination of talent, skills, and play-making magic. Zion Williamson, the first player chosen in the 2019 NBA draft, may be relatively new to pro sports, but fans who have seen him in action will want to read his story. Wetzel's account begins in Zion's childhood, portraying his family life, his parent's emphasis on education, and their support of his childhood ambition to play collegiate basketball. Encouraging yet demanding, his mother coached his middle-school team. While attending a private high school on an academic scholarship, he played basketball on a tight-knit, competitive AAU team, steadily increasing his skills before going on to play under coach Mike Krzyzewski at Duke University. Like other books in the Epic Athletes series, this biography delivers a good deal of information within a well-paced narrative written in a concise, journalistic style. Each chapter begins with a full-page illustration, repeated in sequence within the book's concluding graphic-novel-style section, which replays the electrifying climax of Williamson's NBA debut. An engaging book for basketball fans.

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