Box Out - Hardcover

Coy, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0439870321 ISBN 13: 9780439870320

Publisher: Scholastic Press, 2008

Synopsis

John Coy turns to the high-stakes world of high school basketball in this fast-paced YA novel.

Liam has just been bumped up to starter on the varsity basketball team, and the pressure's on. With the girls' team heading to State, the boys' team is under even greater scrutiny than usual in Liam's small midwestern town. When the team's coach starts counting on the power of prayer---and enforcing teamwide participation---Liam finds himself in a spotlight that's more nerve-racking than any trip to the free-throw line. In trying to stand up for what's right, Liam is forced to stand up for himself---against his teammates, his fellow students, and even his parents.

About this title

About the Author:

John Coy is an award-winning author, who worked as a dishwasher, mattress maker, and tour guide before taking up writing. He's active in sports and is a member of the NBA Reading All-Star Team as part of the Read to Achieve program. John has traveled to all fifty states as well as to many countries internationally.

His work includes Strong to the Hoop, an American Library Association Notable Book, Night Driving, a Marion Vannett Ridgway Memorial Award winner and a Horn Book Fanfare title, Two Old Potatoes and Me, a Charlotte Zolotow Honor Book, a Nickelodeon Jr.ıs Best Books of the Year, and a featured book on PBS Reading Rainbow, and Vroomaloom Zoom, a book of excellence on the Childrenıs Literature Choice List. His newest picture book Around the World is about international basketball.

Johnıs latest title is Crackback, a young adult novel that reveals the high stakes world of high school football as a young player finds himself in a difficult situation. John's experience as a defensive back on his high school football team brings an authentic voice to which readers will be able to relate. As a boy I loved playing football in the back yard and later in organized games,” says John. Football was the one place where smashing into people was not only okay, it was rewarded.”

The idea for the novel came when he wrote Strong to the Hoop. My editor for Strong to the Hoop said that the language and action convinced her that I had a novel in me and that she would like to see it when I wrote it,” John states. When I was ready to write it, the topic that grabbed me was high school football.”

John also wanted to convey his belief that it is impossible to overestimate the degree of identification some teenagers have with sports. I was such a teenager, and my choices for reading such books were much more limited than the options available today.”

John Coy writes and plays sports in Minnesota and wherever else he can join a game.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 7 Up—When high school sophomore Liam is called up to play varsity basketball, he finds the team in some distress. Darius, the only black member and the leading offensive player, quits during the half-time of Liam's first game, feeling dissed by the coach. Liam then attends an invitation-only Athletic Fellowship meeting at a teammate's house, where he is manipulated into joining in the reading of a "Champion's Prayer," strengthening his doubts about the amount and kind of prayer that the coach directs at every pregame and half-time. The teen is secure in his Catholic faith, but fears he'll lose playing time, at least, if he rocks the coach's boat. Using the Internet to investigate and then press the separation of church and state, he indeed suffers the wrath of his coach, administration, and former teammates, so that he, too, quits the team. He and Darius are recruited to toughen up the varsity girls' team as they make their run at State. Coached by the art teacher who runs practices akin to a yoga workout and assigns poetry as well as scrimmages is a welcome change for Liam, who makes serious strides both on and off the court. The message that one must choose one's own road is certainly worthy, and the combination of basketball action, Liam's thoughtful responses to off-court issues, and the involvement—and final game—between the boys and girls will appeal to many hoops fans.—Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Junior High School, Iowa City, IA
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About this edition

• Publisher: Scholastic Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0439870321
• ISBN 13: 9780439870320
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304