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In this sequel to Travel Team, Danny Walker and two of his friends follow up their victory in the national 7th grade basketball championship by going to – you guessed it! – a summer basketball camp. If being cut from his town’s travel team because he was too short tested a basketball wizard’s faith in himself, imagine what happens when he is thrown together with top-talent players up to a year older, and a foot taller, than he is!
Again, Danny suffers a crisis of confidence. It can’t help to have an irredeemably nasty coach – the type who would advise his most gifted player to consider playing soccer instead. Coach Powers browbeats Danny’s morale to a new low. A jealous (and obnoxious) rival adds to the challenge. But with the support of his friends and teammates – to say nothing of his main girl Tess – he rises to these new challenges and leads yet another team to an awe-inspiring victory.
I’m not much of an athlete. But I’m no snob either. Sports stories always get me choked up. The world of athletics often forms the background for great stories of adversity and triumph, quests for self-knowledge, and a display of skills that can be as exciting as the duels of wands and weaponry that fantasy fans thrive on. Sports journalist and youth basketball coach Mike Lupica makes use of these strengths to score a slam-dunk for young readers’ entertainment, especially of interest to kids who like sports.
