09/25/2023
Basketball means everything to Ojibwe 15-year-old Tre Brun, who lives on the Red Lake Nation Reservation in Minnesota. What started as a bonding activity between him and his older brother Jaxon, who was their high school’s basketball star and a pillar of their reservation community, becomes his life’s purpose following Jaxon’s fatal car accident. After trying out for—and unexpectedly making—his school’s varsity basketball team, despite his belief that he’d never be a good enough player, Tre determines to win the state championship in Jaxon’s honor. But interpersonal challenges involving his and his family’s unresolved grief, his developing connection with a new two-spirit student, and issues with his documentarian best friend drive Tre to distraction, jeopardizing his future goals. Can Tre stay true to himself and be present in his own life when he’s stuck in the shadow of his brother’s legacy? Debut author Graves, who is Ojibwe, realistically depicts life living on a reservation via Tre’s earnest first-person POV, and plentiful fast-paced basketball game sequences will appeal to fans of sports fiction. Ages 12–up. (Sept.)
★ 01/26/2024
Gr 10 Up—Nobody from the Red Lake Ojibwe reservation in Northern Minnesota has ever gone on to play basketball at a Division I college or in the NBA. Sophomore baller Tre Brun is committed to being the first. His dad and older brother Jaxon both are legends, and since Jaxon's death in a car accident less than a year ago, Tre is feeling the pressure to excel. Graves strikes a balance between a broadly accessible portrait of teen experience—all-night video game tournaments, basketball practice, and sometimes out-of-control partying—with a pointed view of Indigenous life, including harassment by racist cops and ill treatment by white teams from Bemidji and Minneapolis, and yet all the comforts of hope, family, and tradition. An awkward friendship/not-quite-romance with emo girl Khiana nearly ends when she starts dating best friend Wes, an aspiring filmmaker who has been making a documentary about Tre. Everything comes together when Tre leads the Red Lake Warriors to the state tournament for the first time. A glossary defines several Ojibwe terms that appear in dialogue. In a concluding author's note, Graves writes that while the story is fictionalized, it incorporates much of his own experience as a young Ojibwe growing up at Red Lake. Frequent teen drinking and occasional drug use make the novel more appropriate for high school. The novel is written at a level accessible to striving readers. VERDICT Richly detailed and emotionally powerful, this gripping tale is highly recommended for libraries serving older teens.—Bob Hassett
2023-06-21
Tre wants to play basketball—for his brother, for his reservation, and for his future.
Ojibwe sophomore Tre Brun from Red Lake Nation Reservation in Minnesota recently lost Jaxon, his high school basketball star brother, in a car accident. All Tre wants to do these days is read graphic novels, hang out with his friends, get new girl Khiana to like him back, and play basketball. With dreams of making it in the NBA and one day becoming the subject of best friend Wes’ first documentary, Tre hopes to make varsity this school year and help his brother’s old team, the Warriors, finally make it to states. Basketball is taken seriously on the reservation, and Tre must learn to have faith in himself despite his father’s lack of belief in him while also navigating racism, the resentment of those who think he falls short of his brother’s legacy, and the pitfalls of partying and trying too hard to fit in. Debut author Graves (Ojibwe) presents a deeply personal look at grief, the weight of expectations, and the ways we find connections with those we have lost. While the start feels a bit forced, the novel quickly settles into its coming-of-age sports-underdog story, giving readers tense, fast-paced descriptions of high-stakes basketball games interspersed with textured descriptions of life on the reservation.
This one shoots and scores. (glossary, note from Cynthia Leitich Smith) (Fiction. 13-18)
"Debut author Graves (Ojibwe) presents a deeply personal look at grief, the weight of expectations, and the ways we find connections with those we have lost... This one shoots and scores." — Kirkus Reviews
"Debut author Graves, who is Ojibwe like Tre, doesn’t shirk from showing his community’s ugly experiences, but he never languishes in them. Well-paced and exciting—the action of the basketball games is exceptionally well written—this is a solid piece of sports fiction." — Booklist
"Influenced by Byron’s own experiences, the challenges Tre faces are realistically difficult, including a team-wide drinking habit that nearly derails everything and Tre’s crush and best friend hooking up behind his back. That realism is nicely balanced, however, by a story that dutifully follows the beats of great sports movies with motivational speeches, unbelievable comebacks, raucous crowds, heartbreaking losses, and a lot of heart up to the final buzzer." — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
"Once started, even the most reluctant readers will be hard-pressed to hit the pause button." [audio edition] — School Library Journal (starred review)
"Debut author Graves, who is Ojibwe, realistically depicts life living on a reservation via Tre’s earnest first-person POV, and plentiful fast-paced basketball game sequences will appeal to fans of sports fiction." — Publishers Weekly
Well-paced and exciting—the action of the basketball games is exceptionally well written—this is a solid piece of sports fiction.”
