Slam!
By: Walter Dean Myers
Your failing classes, your grandma is dying, and all you can think about is basketball.
Summary of Slam
Greg Harris, or Slam as everybody calls him, is new at Latimer high school and is facing a lot of troubles in his life. He's amazing on the basketball court but has to realize that there is more to life than basketball. His best friend is getting involved in bad things and his girlfriend is always driving him nuts. If he doesn't figure things out soon he won't be on the court at all. All of this will be shown throughout the book in a thrilling, action packed novel by Walter Dean Myers.
"'The only difference between on the court and off the court is that everybody is in the game off the court. You will play, and you will win or lose. There's nobody on the bench, nobody sitting out'" (Myers 218).
Walter Dean Myers
Walter Dean Myers grew up in Harlem and spent most of his time either reading or playing basketball. His mom Florence Dean taught him to read in their kitchen and he attended 125 public school but he dropped out of school in his early high school years. However, it was on these basketball courts in Harlem where the inspiration for the book Slam came about.
Praises and Acolades
From Publishers Weekly
"Myers uses contemporary urban black locutions to relay his view of the mean streets of Harlem and to describe some heart-thumping hoop action in a novel that, like most good sports stories, is about more than just sports," said PW. Ages 12-up.
Coretta Scott King Author award
Publishers Weekly
AlA Best Book for Young Adults
NYPL Book for the Teen Age
If you buy the book Slam from Amazon with your Discover It Card as your first purchase, you may receive a 75 dollar gift card along with the book. This offer, is not going to last forever, if you don't act within the first three most of receiving you card, your are not eligible to receive this great offer on Amazon.
You can find more about Walter Dean Myers at his website