Hoops

Hoops / Walter Dean Myers.—New York : Laurel Leaf, 2008, c1981.
183 p. ; 18 cm.
“Based on an original screenplay by John Ballard with additional material by Dennis Watlington.”
ISBN: 9780440938842

1. African Americans – Fiction. 2. Basketball – Fiction. 3. Basketball Betting – Fiction. 4. Harlem (New York, N.Y.) – Fiction.

Lonnie Jackson remembers one of the things that his father said before he split was that “his days were piling up on him.” At seventeen Lonnie is starting to feel the same way. Then one evening he goes over to the playground to shoot some baskets and he trips over a wino lying in the middle of the court. He doesn’t know it at the time, but he’s just met his future coach.

Myers expertly delivers fast paced basketball action, suspense, crime, and a touch of romance in this realistic forerunner to urban street lit.