Boot Camp

"Altitude," Jerome said, answering the confused looks on our faces, "is how high you fly. You need to have a good attitude if you want to fly high. You have to believe." When Nick and Kia are invited to former Toronto Raptor Jerome "Junk Yard Dog" Williams' basketball camp in Washington, DC, they quickly discover that this is no ordinary summer hoop camp. This is a basketball boot camp that focuses on discipline and hard work. Jerome and Johnnie's father, "Sergeant Push-up" to the campers, is the no-nonsense camp director. When scrimmages begin, Nick and Kia fall victim to the antics of their teammate Jamal, a talented but troubled player who tries to win games on his own. Only after some hard lessons-and some tough losses-do the three youngsters learn that it takes everyone on the team to accomplish real success. For the ninth installment of this best-selling series Eric Walters has teamed up with retired NBA star Jerome Williams and his brother Johnnie Williams III to write another exciting chapter in the lives of Nick and Kia. Although Boot Camp is fiction, there is a real JYD Basketball Boot Camp in Washington each summer. The Williams' royalties will go to support the JYD Project, which offers a variety of community outreach programs for youth in Canada and the United States. Eric Walters is the author of more than forty books for children and young adults and a much sought-after classroom presenter.

Children's Literature

Not to be confused with Todd Strasser's novel of the same title, this is Book 9 in the publisher's series co-authored by writer Eric Walters with retired NBA star Jerome "Junk Yard Dog" Williams and his brother Johnnie Williams III. In an interesting twist, the Williams brothers are characters in the fictional stories that feature a JYD Boot Camp much like the real one. In this story, the young characters Nick and Kia get a personal invitation to basketball boot camp from Jerome Williams, whom Nick has met earlier at a promotional event at a mall. Told in first person from Nick's viewpoint the story takes the two friends to Washington DC where the boot camp begins to yield a few surprises. Expectations are high and slacking off is simply not allowed. But there is humor and kindness as well, even if it sometimes interferes with the development of tension. Turns out the invitation includes room and board at Jerome's house. Most of the rest of the story also moves quite conveniently along to make targeted points about discipline and hard work, responsibility and team play. In all the story takes second place to this didactic purpose, and the adult characters call the shots, offer solutions, and generally overshadow the young protagonist and his ally. Jamal's character is interesting and offers potential for deepening the interaction between the young people, this, however, remains largely undeveloped. Nick is altogether too devoid of flaws to make an interesting protagonist. Kia has her moments. While Nick in the end is the one who strategizes for the team, his solution too seems not to emerge organically from the story, and it is Jerome who gets to show him what he has reallyaccomplished. Young basketball fans will find the game scenes realistic and it is on the court that the narrative comes alive.