Night Hoops by Carl Deuker Nick's parents fight after Nick's father insists on having a basketball court in the back where Nick's mother has always had a garden. Nick loves basketball, and now that there is a court he can play all the time. His older brother Scott, who doesn't really love basketball and had avoided it by saying that the court was too far away, now is not happy to be forced to play. During the summer, Scott is willing to play. But at the end of the summer his girlfriend, who is a musician, returns from Europe and Scott wants to spend all of his time with music. Fighting over that issue, Nick's parent's split up. With his father gone, Nick spends little time on his schoolwork. He works all of his problems away on the basketball court.
Nick and his friend Luke are sophmores this year, and they are hoping to make the basketball team. They practice all the time. Trent Dawson is the kid across the street. On their block, all of the families have nice little gardens and trash cans. The Dawsons have no garden and their trash can is always knocked over. Trent is good at basketball, and in PE he always plays well, but he has never tried out for a team because his grades are awful. Trent's mother's boyfriend asks Nick's mother if Trent can use their basketball court in the evenings. To Nick's dismay, his mother says yes. When tryouts come along, everyone is surprised to see Trent. Trent plays very aggressively, but he plays well. Nick is disgusted when Trent makes the team, because he does not like playing against Trent. Luke points out that the other team won't like playing against Trent, either.
Predictably, Nick and Trent help each other to help the team and to cope with their lives. If I were to tell you how that happens, I'd be giving the book away. Suffice it to say that they
do help each other, that Nick and trent both grow, that the characters are realistic, and that the actual events of the story aren't as predictable as the outcome.
Happy reading.
: 5:04 AM
