Mercedes Morgan is a point guard for her high-school basketball team, and she's excited that her moves on the court have attracted a number of college scouts. On the outside, everything seems to be going great, but underneath it all, her family is struggling at home. Her older sister, Callie, is a high-school dropout who joined a gang, while her younger brother is making new friends who might lead him down the same path. When Callie is involved in a gang-related shooting and ends up in a coma, Mercedes needs to balance her responsibilities to her team with her need to save her brother from the same fate. This volume in the Bounce series is a fast-paced choice for reluctant readers, with lots of basketball action and hard-hitting plot turns. Refreshingly, Mercedes is in a lesbian relationship and faces no backlash for it. Hand to high/low readers who are moving up from Matt Christopher's sports titles or have burned through all of Orca's Sports offerings.

These short hi-lo novels are dominated by fast basketball action and off-court ethical dilemmas created by school pressures and family troubles. Jones unsubtly but engagingly portrays both the stories' basketball tensions and the personal life choices the male and female protagonists must make to resolve their problems. Quick, thought-provoking reads for teen hoops enthusiasts.