From Barnes & Noble
Danny Walker, the economy-sized hoopster of Travel Team, is back for another exciting drive to the basket. Danny led his travel team five to a national championship, but he isn't gloating: He knows that his reputation has only made him a bigger target. At Right Way basketball camp, he's not only the smallest kid but also perhaps the least confident. In the fierce competition, he'll have to step up just to stay in the game. A perfect slam dunk.
From the Publisher
The sequel to the #1 New York Times bestseller Travel Team!
When you 're the smallest kid playing a big man's game, the challenges never stop—especially when your name is Danny Walker. Leading your travel team to the national championship may seem like a dream come true, but for Danny, being at the top just means the competition tries that much harder to knock him off. Now Danny's heading to Right Way basketball camp for the summer, and he knows that with the country's best players in attendance, he's going to need to take his game up a notch if he wants to match up. But it won't be easy. Old rivals and new battles leave Danny wondering if he really does have what it takes to stand tall.
Booklist
Lupica is at his best when he puts the reader right in the center of the action on the court. Young sports-fiction fans will eat this up.
Children's Literature
It is all about ball for Danny Walker, a thirteen-year-old basketball player who may be small in stature but certainly is not diminutive in his love for the game. Danny's travel team has recently won the national championship, which was a dream come true. It places a lot of pressure on Danny, however, to prove that just because he is small, he can still play with the big guys at one of the most challenging basketball camps around. If this were his only concern it would be way too easy. Factor in a coach who not only cannot see past the vertically challenged person in front of him, but also seems to have it out for Danny due to some unknown situation from his Dad's basketball history. The relationships that are depicted—Danny with his parents, his friends, his girlfriend, his "enemies," his superiors, and one young boy in particular—are written with amazing clarity and honesty. All drama aside, the on-court sequences are understandable to non-ball players yet detailed enough for those who know the game and keep all audiences cheering for Danny. Boys and girls alike will enjoy this book, which is the sequel to "Travel Team." The author's first two novels for young readers were bestsellers. He also writes for the New York Times and is regularly featured on sports television. Highly recommended.
VOYA
Danny Walker of Travel Team (Philomel, 2004/VOYA December 2004) fame continues to live for basketball-even though he still is waiting for his growth spurt. With eighth grade behind him, Danny is on his way to the summer basketball camp run by NBA player Josh Cameron. Danny wonders whether he really can measure up in a camp league of eleven- to fifteen-year-olds. His mother and father are back together, but Danny and basketball-playing friend Tess seem to be at odds for the first time, and he heads to camp full of uncertainties. The first days of camp crush Danny to where he considers faking an injury to go home. But when Tess arrives at her uncle's home across the lake from Danny, the two of them have a heart-to-heart talk, and Danny regains his confidence. Other challenges materialize in an old-fashioned coach, who tells Danny that he should play soccer instead of basketball, and a hot-shot player who seems to have it out for Danny. As always, it all comes down to the buzzer of the last game at camp. Both fans of basketball and fans of underdogs will love this story of Danny and his irrepressible friends. Lupica knows his basketball and knows how to spin a page-turner of a story. Those who enjoyed the first installment of Danny's story will be thrilled to read a sequel, and even those middle school readers who are not huge sports fans will want to cheer for Danny Walker, who proves that determination can be a whole lot bigger than height.
VOYA
Summer Ball is a great book for teen boys who play basketball and also for those who don't! It deals with the stress in the life of a teenager, including bullies, friends, and girls. This allows teenagers to compare their lives with the characters in the book. If you play or understand basketball, then this book has an extra bonus because it has exhilarating step-by-step plays, shots during games, and suspenseful last-second moves. Lupica brings a teenager's life alive, so this is a book that must be read by all teens!
KLIATT
Danny, the hero of Travel Team, is back in this sequel, but it can stand alone, and certainly basketball fans won't want to miss it. Danny is now almost 14 and off to basketball summer camp in Maine, where he's afraid he won't be good enough to compete with older, taller boys. It doesn't help that he's in a different bunk than his old friends Ty and Will and new friend Tarik, from the Bronx, but he does find some satisfaction in helping out a younger bunkmate. It also doesn't help that he's on rigid Coach Powers's team. But never fear, Danny's not a quitter, and it helps that he and Tess are close again: he even sneaks out to the girls' camp across the lake one night to see her. Loads of detailed sports action makes this a sure winner; sportswriter Lupica really knows his stuff. It's an old-fashioned tale about character and persistence that will nevertheless appeal to contemporary audiences, especially boys, with realistic dialog and situations any basketball player or fan can relate to.
Marilyn TaniguchiCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
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School Library Journal
Gr 5-8
This novel continues the story of Danny Walker, the basketball-obsessed hero of Travel Team (Philomel, 2004). In the interval between the two books, the 13-year-old and his friends went on to win the travel-team championship. Now that they are heading off to summer basketball camp, Danny is feeling the pressure of being number one. He plays as well as ever, but he's still the smallest boy on the court and anxiously hoping for a growth spurt. As the story begins, things quickly go wrong for him. He fights with his girlfriend before he leaves; at camp, he's separated from his friends and assigned a berth in the younger boys' cabin. There are many familiar elements and few surprises here, yet Lupica breathes life into both characters and story. Danny is a classic sports-story underdog, but he's also sympathetic and engaging. He is surrounded by a cast of supporting characters who add humor and whose interactions ring true. When Danny befriends Zach, who is a younger version of himself, readers see the protagonist grow in empathy and self-awareness. Sports fans will relish the on-court action, expertly rendered in Lupica's taut prose. This worthy sequel to Travel Team should earn a wide audience.
Kirkus Reviews
Danny Walker returns in this sequel to the popular Travel Team (2004). Son of a former NBA player, Danny is considered too short to make it on a championship team, and even his coach suggests soccer as a better match for him. But Danny perseveres, goes to basketball camp and suffers abuse at the hands of Coach Powers and fellow players, until he proves himself, helps forge a viable team and becomes a hero in the inevitable Rocky-style climax. Underdog makes good is always a fun theme, and young readers will enjoy this one, including the exciting final game, but it's less effective and less involving than Lupica's previous books Heat (2006) and Miracle on 49th Street (2006). The staccato writing becomes annoying, the fragmented style contributing to a story that is insubstantial and predictable. Nevertheless, fans of Lupica and John Feinstein will devour this one. (Fiction. 10+)
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