For Liam Bergstrom. basketball is his life. He loves every minute of playing and practicing. When he is in grade 10, he makes the varsity basketball team. This is something he has been working towards since starting high school. His best friend doesn't make it, but that doesn't seem to be a problem for the boys- they hope that next year they will play together.
What is a problem though is the coach. At first, the coach seems great- very serious and intent, but he knows his stuff. What throws Liam off is that before each game and at half time, the coach leads the team in prayers. Liam does attend church and doesn't have a problem with praying, but he feels it is a personal decision and that the coach may be turning people off.
The rest of the team just goes along to get along, but for Liam he can't seem to get it off of his mind.
I liked this book- there was a lot of basketball talk, which will be really appealing to the boys. The bigger moral issue discussed in the book lead to some very interesting discussions. It might be a good read aloud, depending on the class. I know I mentioned it to several boys today in grade 7 and 8 who I think might really like reading about basketball and may learn something along the way too.
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