GAME CHANGERS

Challenges dog two star players both on and off the court.

Fresh from soccer triumphs in Benchwarmers (2019), sixth grade buds Jeff Michaels and Andi Carillo eagerly sign up for, respectively, Merion Middle School’s boys and girls b-ball teams. Jeff discovers bullying soccer nemesis Ron Arlow is likewise trying out for point guard, and Andi is saddled with Amy Josephson, a coach who admits that she’s never coached before. Frictions develop as the two squads get off to stumbling starts—but the girls have by far the worst of it, as Coach Josephson proves ignorant of hoops strategy and tactics, benches Andi for imagined insubordination, and then caps it all by making racist remarks about black athletes. Feinstein’s game descriptions are tight and exciting for any reader but even moreso for those who know a pick and roll from a zone trap. At the end the drama moves from basketball court to food court as Jeff and Andi go from jock friends to something closer…and even to the courtroom after the offer from Fran Dunphy (an actual, renowned college coach) to take over the girls team draws an injunction from the teachers union. Both young jocks show that when the pressure is on, they’ve got game in life as well as hoops. Most of the cast is white; some players are African American (and one is generically Asian).

Brisk sports action enhanced by treatment of personal, political, and racial stereotyping issues.