Reviews provided by Syndetics
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7-10-Basketball, racism, and international terrorism are all ingredients in Klass's latest offering. Jimmy Doyle, high school junior and standout guard from Minnesota, is one of 10 players selected to represent the USA in an international tournament to be held in Rome. Upon arriving in Los Angeles for team practices, he's thrown together with ethnic and culturally diverse teammates who quickly open his eyes to a much wider world. He immediately clashes with team star and South-Central L.A. native Augustus LeMay, who feels Jimmy is on the team only because he is white. As the tournament in Rome unfolds, the American team is subjected to verbal abuse by a group of skinhead fans from Germany, which escalates into a physical confrontation, and later results in a death threat against the U.S. squad. The Americans still manage to make it to the championship game, which culminates in a last-second game-winning basket and also a gunshot. Told through Doyle's eyes, the narrative features memorable characters and thought-provoking situations. While the terrorist threat may seem a bit extreme, the racial tension throughout the book rings true, and readers seeking lots of hoop action will be thoroughly satisfied.Tom S. Hurlburt, La Crosse Public Library, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 7^-12. In Granham, a small town in Minnesota, Jimmy Doyle is a basketball legend, the one the fans count on to sink the three-pointers and save the game. So when promoters pick an American High School Dream Team for a tournament in Italy, Doyle is offered a starting spot. The problem then becomes persuading himself and the talented African American inner-city kids who make up most of the team that he deserves the opportunity. The pace never lags, and Klass does a convincing job of capturing the feel of the game and depicting Doyle's attempts to be accepted by his teammates, as well as showing what happens when some terrorists add fear to the list of the team's opponents. --Candace Smith
Horn Book Review
When Jimmy Doyle is invited to play basketball for the United States 'Teen Dream Team' in an international tournament, he faces the racism of his teammates. In Italy the team manages to come together to cope with the hate and racism of some of the international fans. Klass neatly weaves his themes into a sports story filled with play-by-play details and plausible characters. From HORN BOOK 1996, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Book Review
Tapped for an international junior tournament, a small-town high school basketball star goes one-on-one with a hostile teammate and with his own fears. Jim Doyle arrives in training camp to discover that he's already on inner-city star Augustus LeMay's bad side: partly for edging out Augustus's cousin, mostly for being white. Jim proves himself and it's off to face Europe's best, but the excitement that carries him through the early rounds turns to dread after the team receives a death threat. In a melodramatic happy ending, the characters all get what they need: Seconds after sinking an impossible winning shot, Jim takes a terrorist's bullet; he wakes up to find Augustus's contempt replaced by respect, and, more importantly, his fear of failing burned away. Though the contrast between Jim's naïveté and his teammate's mean-streets bitterness is sometimes overdone, Klass (California Blue, 1994, etc.) makes Jim's apprehension, fueled by unhappy memories, seem very real, and the final game with Spain is one of the most enthralling climaxes in recent sports fiction. The plot runs a predictable, tried-and-true course, but the author festoons it with frank, thoughtful observations about fathers and sons, city versus small town values, race, friendship, and courage. (Fiction. 12-15)
TextPublication details: New York : Scholastic, c1995.ISBN: