ALA Booklist (Tue Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2005)

Baskin's latest, the story of a sixth-grade traveling basketball team based in an affluent suburb, smoothly unfolds through the perspectives of four central characters--Jeremy, Anabel, Nathan, and Hank--who meet when they serve detention together. The teammates' basketball skills vary, but each manages to triumph in some way. Meanwhile, the team's fortunes are hindered by idiotic, foul-mouthed, super-competitive parents who undermine one coach after another. The final chapters focus on the players' friendship through high school and their relationship with the game, which yields a surprise or two at the end. This is a surefire hit--a sports book with a larger focus, told in an original way.

Horn Book (Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2005)

This story of a sixth-grade traveling basketball team from an affluent town deals with parental involvement in team sports. In alternating narratives, four teammates reveal how parental pressure or apathy affects their lives and hinders the team. The likable characters bond over their family problems, which ultimately empowers each of them. A final chapter follows up on the four in high school.

Kirkus Reviews

Sixth-graders Hank, Nathan, Jeremy, and Anabel form a lasting friendship over the course of the North Bridge Sixth Grade Travel Basketball season, the setting for this school sports story. Perhaps it is the distance of the third-person narrative that keeps each of these characters from coming alive, or perhaps it is their stock situations: Hank's parents live for their son's sports success; Nathan isn't any good; Jeremy is a star, but unhappy in his new home with his grandmother; and Anabel's family ignores her talents in favor of her brother's. The influence of adults on pre-teen athletics is as much the subject as basketball itself. Although believable, the message takes over, to the detriment of plot and character development. The framing news article helps flesh out Anabel's story, but the last chapter, explaining what happened right up into their senior year, seems tacked on. Readers might want more about the games, but those who play on sports teams will recognize these characters and be rooting for them. (Fiction 10-12)

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-Many young basketball players will relate to this story about parents living vicariously through their children's athletic endeavors. In alternating chapters, four sixth graders tell their own stories about how sports affects their lives. Hank is made miserable by the pressure and expectations placed on him by his parents. Nathan desperately wants to play and lies in order to try out for the team because his father's agenda doesn't include sports. Annabel is brushed aside by her father, whose focus is on her brother and his playing time. Jeremy, the best player on the team, has been dumped at his grandmother's by his father's girlfriend. The day these four find themselves in detention together, where they learn about one another's situations, is the turning point of the novel. In the final game of the season, Jeremy's plan to run away is thwarted by a true gesture of friendship from Hank. Hank's parents make an unrealistic turnabout, admiring their son's plot to sit the bench so Jeremy can play. Nathan and his family reconcile their differences about sports, and Annabel becomes the star of the girl's high school basketball team. Even though the plot is predictable, the author's point comes through loud and clear.-Julie Webb, Shelby County High School, Shelbyville, KY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.