Summer Ball

Author: Lupica, Mike

Brand: Puffin Books

Color: Black

Edition: Reprint

Binding: paperback

Format: Deckle Edge

Number Of Pages: 272

Release Date: 15-05-2008

Part Number: FBA-|278957

Details: Product Description
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.


Review
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
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
 
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter one

Danny Walker said to his parents, “You know that growth spurt you guys have been promising me my whole life? When does that kick in, exactly?”

They were all sitting at the kitchen table having breakfast: Danny, his mom, his dad. Richie and Ali Walker were finally back together, after having been apart for way too much of Danny’s life, for reasons he always said he understood but didn’t.

None of that mattered to Danny now. The three of them having breakfast like this had become strictly regulation, instead of something that felt like it ought to be a family holiday.

Richie Walker put down his newspaper and said to his wife, “Which growth spurt do you think he’s talking about?”

Ali Walker, chin in her hand, frowning at the question, a real Mom pose if there ever was one, said, “It can only be the big one.”

“Oh,” Richie said, “the
big one.”

“Not to be hurtful,” Danny’s mom said to his dad, “but it’s the growth spurt you never really had, dear. Whatever the nice people listing your height in the programs always had to say about you.”

“Came close,” he said.

Ali grinned. “Missed it by
that much.”

Now Richie looked at his son. “And despite being the size that I am, I still managed to be All-State at Middletown High, get a scholarship out of here to Syracuse, get to be All-America there and become a lottery pick in the NBA.”

“Blah, blah, blah,” Danny said.

“Excuse me?” his dad said.

“Kidding.”

There was no stopping his dad on this one. It was like he was driving to the basket. You just got out of the way.

“And,” Richie Walker said, “though my memory gets pretty fuzzy sometimes, I believe before I did all that, I was the point guard on the Middletown team that won the nationals in travel ball when I was twelve. Like another twelve-year-old I know.”

“I get it, Dad,” Danny said. “Seriously. I get it, okay? I know this act you and Mom like to do the way

EAN: 9780142411537

Package Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches

Languages: English