Hoops

Have you ever been given a second chance to compete for your dreams? Hoops is a story about young kids just graduating high school given a second chance to get into a college while scouts come to seek them out in a tournament. This book is about a young kid named Lonnie Jackson who was one of the best in his city of Harlem but was never seen by any scouts. Lonnie is now given a second chance when selected to play in a tournament to show everyone he can succeed in NCAA College Basketball and go to college but is faced with many problems along his way. While on his way to becoming a star, Lonnie meets a man named Cal. Lonnie thinks this guy is a nobody but what he doesn't know is that Cal used to be in the NBA until he was caught shaving points from his score to make a little extra money on the side from bookies. Cal believes Lonnie is good enough to go to the pros but tells Lonnie not to let the pressure get to him. Cal and Lonnie really start to become good friends. Cal and Lonnie's team make it to the championship game but Cal gets into more trouble with bookies again. Cal is told to have Lonnie sit in the championship game so the bookies can make their money back. Find out if Cal has Lonnie sit for this game or he lets him play.

Walter Dean Myers wrote this fiction book in a very well written manner. This book was written for young adults around my age ready to enter the real world and find out what its all about. I enjoyed reading the book, and the book always had a twist that made the book hard to put down. "Hoops" was easy to ready because the book didn't have much slang in the book and no profanity or very little if at all. I would recommend this book to any of my classmates. I had gotten my book at R.I.F., but you can also buy the book from bookstores for about $5.99.

Walter Dean Myers was born in West Virginia in 1937 but spent most of his childhood and young adult life in Harlem. He was raised by foster parents and remembers a happy but tumultuous life while going through his own teen years. Suffering with a speech impediment, he cultivated a habit of writing poetry and short stories and acquired an early love of reading. In 1954, he quit high school and joined the army. He later held many positions with various agencies including the New York State Department of Labor, the post office, a rehabilitation center and a transformer company. All during this time, Mr. Myers was writing for various magazines and