I love Walter Dean Myers' stories about kids growing up in Harlem and this story doesn't disappoint. Game is about Drew, a teenager growing up in Harlem who eats, sleeps, and drinks basketball. He's a star on the team at school and hopes to go pro. It's his only escape from the bleak crime-infested world he lives in and he hopes it's his ticket out of Harlem. Everything's going according to plan until a new teammate arrives.
Tomas is the new player who shakes up everything in Drew's world. He's a good player, but he's not as good as Drew thinks. Drew also thinks Tomas is getting special treatment from the coach and the coach is racist towards him.( Drew is black and Tomas is white and from the Czech Republic. ) Drew's confidence in himself is shaken when the coach benches him during most of the games and tells Drew he may not have what it takes to go pro. On top of all that, many of Drew's friends are caught up in street life and are going to jail or on their way there. Drew has a lot of problems and doesn't know if he can count on the solution he turned to before, basketball.
I love Myers' easy, yet powerful style of writing. He mixes teenage slang with heartfelt profound descriptions of Drew. Though the story is about an African-American boy playing basketball in Harlem, it's still a universal story about a teenager trying to find his way and build a future on his special gift. You can find Game by Walter Dean Myers in the YA section under YA FIC MYERS or we can order it from another library.
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