<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/580014.The_Outside_Shot" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Outside Shot" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175977232m/580014.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/580014.The_Outside_Shot%22%3EThe Outside Shot</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13291.Walter_Dean_Myers%22%3EWalter Dean Myers</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/132851521%22%3E4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Book review <br/>The outside shot <br/>By: Anthony Cruz <br/><br/>For my English part of my special interest project, I read the book The Outside Shot. Now this book relates to my topic because it is a novel about a pre-adult in college that gets excepted to a college, and plays basketball, but he has many challenges in front of him. This book I read shows more than a maturing man playing basketball, it shows the life lessons he learns, and what playing a sport is really about. <br/><br/>In this book, I thought to myself, and looked at the problems he face. First, the character’s name is Lonnie Jackson, and he is from Harlem. He isn’t a bad person, but his behavior skills could be better. This young man plays basketball, and is so good at it, a college in Montclare offers him to stay at their for the college team, and it gives him a chance to make it in the NBA. Now when he goes to Montclare, he makes a lot of great friends. and he meets this girl at the nursing home, and later on, they become more then friends. Now, Lonnie first starts off meeting a fatman, and his name is fatman. He gives the basketball player money and free pizza if they win their games. When Lonnie first gets into their college, he sees that their is really no one better than him, but he gets less time on the game. The other basketball player are friends with him, but soon he finds new problems. <br/><br/>first, he needs a job, and works with a boy name Edd. Edd has autism,. and Lonnie tries to teach him how to play basketball. At first, it does work, but after awhile things change. Then the girl that works their, Sherry, finds herself and Lonnie getting together. he does like her, but his behavior affects it. And the biggest problems he has is; he does something to the team that suspends him from basketball. another problem is that him and Sherry are in a on and off relationship. Also, Edd is making any progress and the dad wants to play him in a game. And one of the last problems in college is that he finds himself almost getting in trouble by the cops. but soon his problems will be faced, and he will learn from them. <br/><br/>Now with the Edd problem, he keeps playing with him, and after weeks of work, he talks and is more active. then his father wants to play him in a game. But Lonnie decides to play the dad in a one on one game instead. Lonnie wins, and the boy becomes healthier because of Lonnie. Lonnie job is to help Edd and it pays off. With Sherry Lonnie learns from his past mistakes with her. For example, he tried to get her to a bed she he could do something with her, but she wasn’t agreeing with his ideas, and he got mad. But he learned, and their relationship is on, and not off. And the biggest problem is that he slacks off in practice, and messes with one of the players. he feels ashamed of himself, and has to apologize to everyone on the team. but after the suspension, he learns, and continues to play ball. And when he almost got in trouble by the cops, he had to help hide his friend sneak out of a store because they were stuck in their. <br/><br/>In the ending, he thinks about the future, and learns and looks back at his adventure. He knows he might not make it to NBA, but he knows the future is bright, and he will shine. Also, he still got to play basketball, and he knows that his real friends will get to the NBA because they deserve it. But at the end, he realized that basketball isn’t bout being athlete. Its about being focus, and learning. And as he said, he was doing ok.
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