Travel Team

I am becoming a solid Mike Lupica fan. I have never seen him on ESPN and I do not read sports writers usually but I may start in this case. I think his latest book, Heat, is one of the best books I have read this year. Danny Walker loves basketball. Danny understands the game to the very core. He understands that a key to the game is getting the ball to the shooters. Danny is a great passer. Danny is also the shortest player on court. For the first time in his life, Danny has not made "the" team. The coach of the travel team is looking to repeat the town's run to the national championship and is selecting players by size not ability. Danny is devastated and thinking of giving up on basketball when his mostly absent father, Richie Walker, turns up. His dad was a professional NBA ball player and the player who led the town's travel team to televised glory in the national championship years before. Richie's career is over due to an injury but he sees a way to have a second chance with his son and at life when he starts a team made up of the other 'also ran' kids. Lupica creates realistic, full-rounded characters. His descriptions of the action makes you feel as if you are running down the court looking for the pass along with the characters. This book will strike a chord with kids and grownups as it reminds us that playing is supposed to be fun. Hard work, smart players and heart are what make a team. Lupica's books would be great to promote to Matt Christopher and Dan Gutman readers. The poignant stories resonate with heart and give readers a front row seat to terrific sports action.

Ever discouraged by your height? Danny Walker wasn't until he got cut from the seventh grade travel basketball team because he was too short. Everyone knew Danny was one of the best basketball players. Even the coaches that had cut him from the Vikings, the team his dad led to the championships when he was 12 knew he was one of the best. The only problem was that the coaches wanted to go big this year, meaning they wanted to have big intiminating players, even if that meant cutting the best. Danny was frustrated for awhile, but that just made him strive harder to improve on his passing, shooting, and his favorite, the double crossover. Since Danny was cut from the Vikings, what will he do this basketball season? I'm not a big fan of reading, but this is the best book I have ever read, and I am not just saying that. Even though Travel Team isn't based on a true story it relates to real situations. For example, I have a friend that got cut from the seventh grade school team because they were too short, but they improved so much after that, they made the eigth grade team the next year. I would recommend this book to anyone, I mean anyone even those who don't know the first thing about basketball, like, that in basketball you use a ball. People that would enjoy this book the most are probably seventh graders, people that are short or think they are too short, sports players, and anyone that likes to get into a good book. If you don't like basketball you can check out some of the other books Mike Lupica wrote. Some of those books are Heat, Bump and Run, Red Zone, Summer of 98, and Operation Clean Sweep. Travel Team is definetly my favorite book, and I suggest reading it, because it can easily become your favorite book too.

Travel Team is the first novel i have read from Mike Lupica and i will be going out very soon to buy many more of his sports novels. The story of travel team is great, how a 12 year old "little man" named Danny who is very small for his age overcomes his defeats and also renews a relationship with his father, who becomes his coach. The novel is very touching at times in which Richie (his dad) is talking to Danny. The only way to describe the book is already written on the front fold of the book, "Mike Lupica delivers a rousing tale of the underdog that will leave you cheering through the final page." That statement is SO true...book highly recommended for any age, although many younger ones ages 10-16 would probably enjoy it even more. Great book!

"Travel Team" is a great book about a boy named Danny and his travel team of rejects which his Dad, Richie Walker, former NBA star and child basketball hero, coaches. The main reason I like this book is because it is realistic and gives a good picture of what kids this age can do on the court. As a youth basketball player myself, I can say the descriptions of the basketball games were phenomenal, and accurate. It was also interesting to see references to real things and people, such as LeBron James and Tracy McGrady. I highly recommend this book to people who like sports and basketball, and for people who like good come-from-behind stories like "Hoosiers". This book is good for people age 11 through 15, but anyone would enjoy it. Travel Team was so good that I hope Mike Lupica writes a sequel!

Mike Lupica has a masterpiece with this book. This is one of the best book's I have ever read. It's suggestion on the age level on this book's site isnt correct according to me. I think this book should be read by 12-15 year olds, thus because it deals with so many serious situations. This is a great comeback story, and i hope my review can convince you to by it.