December 1, 1998
Gr 3-6-Bowen is quickly joining the ranks of today's most popular sports-fiction authors. In this novel, Michael and the rest of his seventh-grade basketball team are worried about the annual game against the eighth-grade team. Then Michael comes across some old Sports Illustrated magazines that outline how the 1964 UCLA Bruins used a full-court press to defeat their bigger, stronger opponents. The author scores points by including plenty of sports action to keep even the most reluctant readers flipping the pages. As in past books, he skillfully interweaves fact and fiction and uses historical sports plays and concepts as a backdrop for the story. Here he puts to rest the notion that "bigger is better." A must-have for libraries needing good sports fiction.-Barb Lawler, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA