As he did with a football in the Geisel Award winning Don't Throw It to Mo! (2015) and its baseball-themed sequel, mighty mite Mo again delivers in the clutch is time on the boards. Being so short that when he first tries passing a basketball to his teammate Gail, he hits her in the knee, Mo knows that he has to practice throwing higher. His efforts team practice, later with his dad, and finally on the morning of his first game, chucking blueberries into his breakfast cereal e rewarded when he comes off the bench, with the score tied, to deliver a pass that soars over everyone's heads and hits nothing but net! "It was a very bad pass," Mo's (female) coach laughs. "But your bad pass won the game." Like Chris Paul's Long Shot: Never Too Small to Dream Big (2009) and other similarly themed titles, this offers warm affirmation that size isn't everything en in basketball.

POPPreS-Gr 2 The newest title about the protagonist of Don't Throw It to Mo! and Get a Hit, Mo! is all about basketball. Mo is the shortest player on the Bees basketball team, but he has big dreams. He practices passing all the time ("'throw it higher,' Coach Emma tells him")at school, at home, even with blueberries into his cereal bowl. When the Bees play the Ducks, Mo is benched for most of the game but gets to come in at the end, when the score is tied. When Mo finally gets the ball, he passes it highso high that he actually makes a basket and wins the game! The story ends with Coach Emma playfully telling him "it was a very bad pass. But your bad pass won the game." This charming story has many funny and relatable moments for sports lovers and underdogs, and shows the power of practicing and having the support of family, caring adults, teammates, and friends. There is a great deal of diversity featured in the illustrationsMo and his family are African American, both basketball teams are coed, and the characters are majority people of color. The spot and full-page illustrations are simple, but with great character expression and movement. VERDICT Another enjoyable "Mo" sports story for beginning readers. Jenny Berggren, Longfellow Middle School, Berkeley, CA