Wrong Side of the Court

by H.N. Khan Narrated by Raoul Bhaneja

Overview

Fifteen-year-old Fawad has big dreams about being the world's first Pakistani to be drafted into the NBA. A first-generation Pakistani coming-of-age story for fans of David Yoon and Ben Philippe.

Fifteen-year-old Fawad Chaudhry loves two things: basketball and his mother's potato and ground beef stuffed parathas. Both are round and both help him forget about things like his father, who died two years ago, his mother's desire to arrange a marriage to his first cousin, Nusrat, back home in Pakistan, and the tiny apartment in Regent Park he shares with his mom and sister. Not to mention his estranged best friend Yousuf, who's coping with the shooting death of his older brother.
 
But Fawad has plans: like, asking out Ashley, even though she lives on the other, wealthier side of the tracks, and saving his friend Arif from being beaten into a pulp for being the school flirt, and making the school basketball team and dreaming of being the world's first Pakistani to be drafted into the NBA. All he has to do now is convince his mother to let him try out for the basketball team. And let him date girls from his school. Not to mention somehow get Omar, the neighborhood bully, to leave him alone . . .

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

One of CCBC's Best Books for Kids & Teens (Fall 2022)

". . . Wrong Side of the Court is finely crafted and well paced, it's hard to believe it's [Khan's] literary debut. . . . The writing is crisp and visual, and the story is so well fleshed out." —STARRED REVIEW, Quill & Quire

"An interesting and heartfelt portrait of a teen yearning to beat the odds." —Kirkus Reviews

"I loved the vivid portrayal of Regent park, the nuanced depiction of intergenerational tension, and the rich representation of diversity. And the complex portrayal of male friendships! These young men trash talk and nurture each other as they try to survive their environment with their dreams — and their lives — intact."  —Toronto Public Library

Kirkus Reviews

2021-12-24
A Pakistani Canadian teen strives to break away from his often violent neighborhood in this thoughtful debut.

Despite his small stature and his mother’s disapproval, Fawad Chaudhry dreams of becoming the first NBA player of Pakistani descent. Those ambitions are a far cry from the realities of life in Regent Park, a housing project in a rapidly gentrifying section of Toronto. Since Fawad’s father’s death in a traffic accident two years earlier, the family has been struggling more than ever to get by. When the older brother of his best friend, Yousuf, is killed on their street, Fawad’s world is once again shaken. When he begins dating Ashley, a well-to-do Chinese and White classmate from the nicer part of the neighborhood, he is introduced to a world of fancy dining and wealth he’d never before experienced. But when Ashley sees firsthand how tumultuous life for kids from Regent Park can be, Fawad begins wondering if he can ever be perceived as more than just a teen from the projects. Khan creates a moving portrait of an immigrant teen who has experienced grief and poverty from an early age. The first-generation, multinational Muslim community of Regent Park is vividly portrayed, as are the culture clashes Fawad frequently has with his mother. Readers will become invested in caring and wondering about the impact of gentrification on the residents.

An interesting and heartfelt portrait of a teen yearning to beat the odds. (Fiction. 14-18)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940176071146
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	03/15/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos