Summer Ball

by Mike Lupica

Overview

The sequel to the #1 New York Times bestseller Travel Team!

When you're the smallest kid playing a big man's game, the challenges never stop—especially when your name is Danny Walker. Leading your travel team to the national championship may seem like a dream come true, but for Danny, being at the top just means the competition tries that much harder to knock him off. Now Danny's heading to Right Way basketball camp for the summer, and he knows that with the country's best players in attendance, he's going to need to take his game up a notch if he wants to match up. But it won't be easy. Old rivals and new battles leave Danny wondering if he really does have what it takes to stand tall.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780142411537
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	05/15/2008
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	96,554
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	910L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Mike Lupica is the author of multiple bestselling books for young readers, including QB 1, Heat, Travel Team, Million-Dollar Throw, and The Underdogs. He has carved out a niche as the sporting world’s finest storyteller. Mike lives in Connecticut with his wife and their four children. When not writing novels, Mike Lupica writes for New York's Daily News, appears on ESPN's The Sports Reporters and hosts The Mike Lupica Show on ESPN Radio. You can visit Mike Lupica at mikelupicabooks.com
 

Read an Excerpt

Chapter one
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Summer Ball"
by .
Copyright © 2008 Mike Lupica.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Young Readers Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for Summer Ball:
 
“Lupica is at his best when he puts the reader right in the center of the action on the court. His game descriptions are fast, accurate, and exciting. Young sports-fiction fans will eat this up.” –Booklist
 
“Sports fans will relish the on-court action, expertly rendered in Lupica's taut prose. This worthy sequel to Travel Team should earn a wide audience.” –School Library Journal
 
“Lupica knows his basketball and knows how to spin a page-turner of a story. Those who enjoyed the first installment of Danny's story will be thrilled to read a sequel, and even those middle school readers who are not huge sports fans will want to cheer for Danny Walker, who proves that determination can be a whole lot bigger than height.” –VOYA

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Summer Ball:
 
“Lupica is at his best when he puts the reader right in the center of the action on the court. His game descriptions are fast, accurate, and exciting. Young sports-fiction fans will eat this up.” –Booklist
 
“Sports fans will relish the on-court action, expertly rendered in Lupica's taut prose. This worthy sequel to Travel Team should earn a wide audience.” –School Library Journal
 
“Lupica knows his basketball and knows how to spin a page-turner of a story. Those who enjoyed the first installment of Danny's story will be thrilled to read a sequel, and even those middle school readers who are not huge sports fans will want to cheer for Danny Walker, who proves that determination can be a whole lot bigger than height.” –VOYA

From the Publisher

Danny Walker, the economy-sized hoopster of Travel Team, is back for another exciting drive to the basket. Danny led his travel team five to a national championship, but he isn't gloating: He knows that his reputation has only made him a bigger target. At Right Way basketball camp, he's not only the smallest kid but also perhaps the least confident. In the fierce competition, he'll have to step up just to stay in the game. A perfect slam dunk.

Lupica is at his best when he puts the reader right in the center of the action on the court. Young sports-fiction fans will eat this up.

Booklist

Gr 5-8
This novel continues the story of Danny Walker, the basketball-obsessed hero of Travel Team (Philomel, 2004). In the interval between the two books, the 13-year-old and his friends went on to win the travel-team championship. Now that they are heading off to summer basketball camp, Danny is feeling the pressure of being number one. He plays as well as ever, but he's still the smallest boy on the court and anxiously hoping for a growth spurt. As the story begins, things quickly go wrong for him. He fights with his girlfriend before he leaves; at camp, he's separated from his friends and assigned a berth in the younger boys' cabin. There are many familiar elements and few surprises here, yet Lupica breathes life into both characters and story. Danny is a classic sports-story underdog, but he's also sympathetic and engaging. He is surrounded by a cast of supporting characters who add humor and whose interactions ring true. When Danny befriends Zach, who is a younger version of himself, readers see the protagonist grow in empathy and self-awareness. Sports fans will relish the on-court action, expertly rendered in Lupica's taut prose. This worthy sequel to Travel Team should earn a wide audience.
—Marilyn TaniguchiCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Danny Walker returns in this sequel to the popular Travel Team (2004). Son of a former NBA player, Danny is considered too short to make it on a championship team, and even his coach suggests soccer as a better match for him. But Danny perseveres, goes to basketball camp and suffers abuse at the hands of Coach Powers and fellow players, until he proves himself, helps forge a viable team and becomes a hero in the inevitable Rocky-style climax. Underdog makes good is always a fun theme, and young readers will enjoy this one, including the exciting final game, but it's less effective and less involving than Lupica's previous books Heat (2006) and Miracle on 49th Street (2006). The staccato writing becomes annoying, the fragmented style contributing to a story that is insubstantial and predictable. Nevertheless, fans of Lupica and John Feinstein will devour this one. (Fiction. 10+)

Kirkus Reviews