Playing Without the Ball

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Demonstrating once again his gift for combining taut sports action with understated but convincing characterization, Wallace returns to the same small Pennsylvania town from Wrestling Sturbridge and Shots on Goal. Seventeen-year-old Jay McLeod's mother left when he was nine, and his father has just moved to Los Angeles. Jay decides to stay behind until June in order to play varsity basketball, knowing that as a "borderline" player, it may be his last. He's shocked when the coach cuts him from the team, but isn't quite ready to leave Sturbridge just yet. Jay knows plenty of reasons to stay: his friend Spit, a gifted punk-rock singer with even more family baggage than Jay; the new church basketball league, whose players may not be as accomplished as the school team's but are just as committed and competitive; and the chance to figure out just where he might be headed. Wallace's detailed play-by-play descriptions deftly capture the rush felt by players deep in a game, anywhere and at any level; with equal skill, the author limns the resilient Jay and his realistically awkward and tentative forays into romance. A novel rebounding with pleasures for YA readers of all types. Ages 14-up. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Publishers Weekly

"Demonstrating once again his gift for combining taut sports action with understated but convincing characterization, Wallace returns to the same small Pennsylvania town from Wrestling Sturbridge and Shots on Goal for the story of a 17-year-old basketball player," wrote PW in a starred review. Ages 14-up. (Aug.)

KLIATT

Wallace, a sportswriter, author of Wrestling Sturbridge, turns his attention to a story about basketball and how the love of the game keeps one young man sane. It's not the pros, it isn't the playground in the inner city: it's basketball as played in Y's and church leagues in small towns across America. Jay is 17, a senior in Sturbridge, Pennsylvania. His alcoholic mother left him when he was nine; his father, who tried his best to be a decent parent, has just taken a job in California, leaving Jay alone, living in a room above a bar. Jay wants to stay in Sturbridge since it is his last chance to play varsity ball. Working out at pick-up games at the Y keeps him going until the season starts. The first quarter of this "novel in four quarters" ends when Jay is cut from the high school team. The next three quarters take him through an alternative basketball season—a church league exists in the town, and he is asked to join the Methodists and their team, with boys and girls playing together and no adult coaches to dictate to them. What starts out as a second-best solution for Jay turns into an exciting competition, especially when the starting guard on the high school team quits after a quarrel with the coach and joins one of the church teams in the league, bringing the play to a higher level. Wallace does the detailed action of the basketball games better than anyone—the reader feels right there, if not on the floor, then in the stands watching, sharing the excitement. So this is a fine sports story. And it is also much more than that, because of the person Jay is and how he changes in this year he is alone. In exchange for his room, he works in the kitchen at the bar, wherea band plays live most weekends. The lead singer, Spit (a.k.a. Sarita), becomes a friend, a sometime roommate, a lover, and then only a friend again. She is creative, exciting, loving, and messed up with drugs and bad choices. Jay makes other new friends, on his team, at the Y. As the novel ends, he is beginning a solid relationship with Julie, the kind of girl he never before could have imagined would be interested in him. Wallace is so adept at catching the nuances of Jay's growing friendships; when they get complicated, when they are comfortable. Yes, there's sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll in this story, but they are integral to the non-formulaic plot, with Jay making surprising decisions and facing strange situations. For instance, Jay, who because of his mother's alcoholism is a strict teetotaler himself, dodges stuff all the time at the bar and with Spit; imagine his surprise when the kids at the Methodist Youth Group light up joints and pass them around. Wallace knows his small town setting and makes it absolutely real, just as he does the basketball action. There are so many poignant, understated scenes that are memorable—Jay's Christmas, for one—that many readers, aged 14 and up, will cherish this book for a variety of reasons. KLIATT Codes: S*—Exceptional book, recommended for senior high school students. 2000, Knopf, 218p, 21cm, $15.95. Ages 16 to 18. Reviewer: Claire Rosser; July 2000 (Vol. 34 No. 4)

VOYA

Basketball means everything to seventeenyearold Jaybefore school, on weeknights, on weekends, at the Y, and eventually, in a churchsponsored league after he fails to make the varsity team. Although his father divorced his mother and moved to California to escape small town Sturbridge, Pennsylvania, the setting for two other Wallace sports books, Wrestling Sturbridge (Knopf, 1996/VOYA June 1997) and Shots on Goal (Knopf, 1997), and his alcoholic mother lives in New Jersey, Jay remains in Sturbridge to complete his senior year of high school. Living alone over a bar and working as its shortorder cook, he copes with his loneliness, his varsity disappointment, and his lack of parental supervision. His friend Spit, a singer who performs regularly in the bar, has her own problems with drugs and overdosing, loose seXual values, and sabotaging Jay's attempts to date another girl by having seX with him herself. Most of the characters seem dysfunctional. Fellow team player Alan runs the local Methodist youth group, but he thinks nothing of smoking and passing around joints with his friends right after a youth minister recruits him to speak about the infiltration of drug use in the community. Alcohol and drug use are prevalent throughout the book, eXcept by Jay, who knows that indulging would be bad for him. As the churchsponsored basketball tournament advances, readers will sense Jay gaining confidence in himself and in his ability to survive. The wellwritten basketball scenes are eXciting and fast paced and will appeal to older, more mature readers who like sports fiction. Other nonsports readers will appreciate the growth in Jay's relationships and his responsibility in developing views of hislife. PLB VOYA CODES: 3Q 4P S (Readable without serious defects; Broad general YA appeal; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2000, Knopf, 224p, $15.95. PLB $17.99. Ages 16 to 18. Reviewer: Jane Van Wiemokly

SOURCE: VOYA, October 2000 (Vol. 23, No. 4) <%ISBN%> 0679886729

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up-The high school senior who narrates this coming-of-age sports novel lives alone in a one-room apartment above a Sturbridge, PA, bar where he works when he's not in school. His mother left him and his dad when Jay was nine, and his father has recently moved to California to forge a new life. Jay, however, decides to stay behind to finish school and to pursue his passion-basketball. Although talented, he and another teammate are cut from the varsity squad so that the coach can groom some upcoming sophomores. Tired of playing pickup games, Jay joins a YMCA church league and leads his team to a season-ending championship game. His best friend is a female punk-rock band leader named Spit-a sensitive, but conflicted and self-involved soul mate who tries to help him navigate but soon becomes part of his emerging sex life. Wallace clearly knows basketball; his story is permeated with tautly written play action and dramatic time-out scenes of strategy planning under pressure. The only non-basketball school scene in the book takes place in the lunchroom. The author has an excellent ear for the way kids talk; his dialogue is simple and crisp, reflecting the personalities of his teen characters. He ties all the loose ends together, and all's well that ends well: Jay makes the winning basket and ends up with the right girlfriend. Basketball addicts will eat this up, but the story also has a lot to say about friendship, independence, and self-realization.-Jack Forman, Mesa College Library, San Diego Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.