Message-heavy, but a slam-dunk romp.
Mortifying eruptions of thick brown hair on his face (and elsewhere) get 11-year-old Baxter Brooks shipped off to a boarding school for monsters.
Ostracized at school due to episodes of mysterious hirsuteness—and even fangs—Bax lands at Prodigium Academy, which is part of a network of secret monster schools. Better yet, he’s offered a spot on the school’s “beast ball” squad, which hasn’t won a game in 93 years and has a motley assortment of players including a garden gnome and a mermaid. They’re rejects from rival schools, each of which admits only prime specimens of one kind of monster (“Monsters are mad judgy, bro,” admits a troll). They’ve been sneeringly dubbed losers so often that they’ve come to believe it. Besides getting over his own reluctance to admit that he’s a werewolf, Bax works on his teammates’ self-esteem and develops a playbook that leverages their particular strengths, all before an upcoming tournament. Punctuated by pep talks, the ensuing events feature plenty of exciting b-ball action on the way to a literally soaring finish. Despite a tendency to trumpet his themes—the main one being that physical differences should be celebrated, not despised—King concocts an entertaining tale wrapped around a diverse cast of misfits and a wildly anarchistic version of basketball. Wolfhard’s loose line drawings capture the narrative’s lighthearted tone nicely. Prodigium’s residents are diverse in skin color.
Message-heavy, but a slam-dunk romp. (author’s note) (Adventure. 9-12)Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9781774886458
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship.
A young tennis champion becomes the target of revenge.
In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. False Legacy has become a hero to the masses, further strengthening Silla’s hold, and it becomes imperative to uncover and defeat her. If Legacy is to win again, she must play her imposter while disguised as someone else. Winning at tennis is not just about money and fame, but resisting Silla’s plans to send more young people into brutal mines with little hope of better lives. Legacy will have to overcome her fears and find the magic that allowed her to claim victory in the past. This story, with its elements of sports, fantasy, and social consciousness that highlight tensions between the powerful and those they prey upon, successfully continues the series conceived by late basketball superstar Bryant. As before, the tennis matches are depicted with pace and spirit. Legacy and Javi have brown skin; most other characters default to White.
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-949520-19-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Granity Studios
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Poet Alexander deftly reveals the power of the format to pack an emotional punch.
Basketball-playing twins find challenges to their relationship on and off the court as they cope with changes in their lives.
Josh Bell and his twin, Jordan, aka JB, are stars of their school basketball team. They are also successful students, since their educator mother will stand for nothing else. As the two middle schoolers move to a successful season, readers can see their differences despite the sibling connection. After all, Josh has dreadlocks and is quiet on court, and JB is bald and a trash talker. Their love of the sport comes from their father, who had also excelled in the game, though his championship was achieved overseas. Now, however, he does not have a job and seems to have health problems the parents do not fully divulge to the boys. The twins experience their first major rift when JB is attracted to a new girl in their school, and Josh finds himself without his brother. This novel in verse is rich in character and relationships. Most interesting is the family dynamic that informs so much of the narrative, which always reveals, never tells. While Josh relates the story, readers get a full picture of major and minor players. The basketball action provides energy and rhythm for a moving story.
Poet Alexander deftly reveals the power of the format to pack an emotional punch. (Verse fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-10771-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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