Game - by Walter Dean Myers

Book Synopsis

This thrilling basketball story from New York Times bestselling author Walter Dean Myers is a strong choice for independent reading and sharing in the classroom. Thought-provoking and packed with court action, Game is a winner!

Drew Lawson is all about basketball. Everyone in his life knows that his game is taking him places. (It has to, because his grades certainly won't.) Drew knows how hard it is to make it big, but even with the long odds, he is good enough to have a shot.

But when Coach hands the ball to another player--Tomas, a white kid from Europe--Drew can't help but feel like he's not the star on the courts anymore. He's seen enough men in his neighborhood flame out to know that if he wants to be extraordinary, his game has to be the best.

As his team makes the playoffs with Tomas on the court, Drew knows he has to come up with a big move to save his fading college prospects. It's all up to Drew to find out just how deep his game really is.

Walter Dean Myers was a New York Times bestselling author, Printz Award winner, five-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, two-time Newbery Honor recipient, and the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. Maria Russo, writing in the New York Times, called Myers "one of the greats and a champion of diversity in children's books well before the cause got mainstream attention."

Review Quotes

"Expertly realized game sequences. There's plenty of basketball here, but, as in any good sports novel, more is going on than the sport; life is the game, and this is a sensitive portrait of a likable young man, his family, city and dreams." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Myers clearly knows basketball, and he nails the court action. A great choice for sports fans." -- KLIATT (starred review)

"In this story of a teen who dreams of making it big in the NBA, Myers returns to the theme that has dominated much of his serious fiction: How can young black urban males negotiate the often-harsh landscape of their lives to establish a sense of identity and self-worth? Myers eschews easy answers, and readers are left with the question of whether or not Drew is prepared to deal with the challenges that life will inevitably hand him." -- School Library Journal

"Basketball fans will love the long passages of detailed court action. Passages that could have read as heavy-handed messages come across, instead, as the authentic thoughts of a strong, likable, African American teen whose anxieties, sharp insights, and belief in his own abilities will captivate readers of all backgrounds." -- Booklist