AROUND THE WORLD

In the hottest and most cosmic hoops contest since Kevin O’Malley’s Mount Olympus Basketball (2003), Coy shifts the court between shots from New York to Perth, to Shanghai, then Istanbul and on around the world. The players may change with each turn of the page, but the game stays the same, and so does the fast-break pace: In Lagos, just as “Obinna muscles for position and jumps for the rebound,” [turn] “On a court in Paris, France, Jèrôme slaps the rebound—FWAPP! He tosses to Antoine, who jets up the floor.” The art is all energy, with thickly drawn figures flying across panels and spreads past comic-book style dialogue balloons and text boxes. Opening and closing with Tanika and Jamal shooting “Around the World” on a playground in New York (instructions for play appended), Coy and the illustrators give the speed, the physicality and especially the international scope of the game a real slam dunk. (endpaper map) (Picture book. 6-9)