Nothing But Net

September 1, 2019
Grades 3-6 Sports action dominates this slim middle-grade book. Five inner-city friends welcome spring and the return of basketball at the local park. But on the first day of practice, construction workers arrive to start transforming the park into a parking lot. With their teacher's encouragement, initial despair morphs into civic action. They post signs, use social media, and email a local TV reporter. Their efforts catch the eye of their rivals, who propose a rematch game to draw attention to the park and its role in the community. Simple vocabulary and sentence structure, combined with frequent inset illustrations and short chapters, make this a classic high/low transitional chapter book for older readers. While the story lacks character development and non-sports fans may get lost in the game play, the plot itself is straightforward with a quick, tidy resolution. This is the second of a planned five-book series that begins with Meet Me on the Court (2018). Purchase where the series is popular or where there is strong demand for high/low books.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)