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Reviewed by:
  • After the Shot Drops by Randy Ribay
  • Karen Coats
Ribay, Randy After the Shot Drops. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018 [336p]
Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-328-70227-2 $17.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-328-47687-6 $17.99
Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 9-12

Bunny and Nasir were tight until Bunny accepted a scholarship to play basketball for a mostly white private school, and now Nasir’s only friend is his cousin Wallace. About to be evicted, Wallace is trying to make some fast money by gambling, and his jealousy over Bunny’s good fortune leads him to unwisely bet against Bunny. Nasir is caught in the middle but leans toward Wallace, figuring that Bunny has lots of people literally invested in his success, while Wallace has no one. Even Nasir’s parents, who insist on an obligation to help family and regularly send money to his mom’s people in the Philippines, want Nasir to stay away from Wallace’s bad influence. When Wallace gets in way over his head, tragedy inevitably follows. Nasir and Bunny alternate narration, effectively exploring the emotional complexities of loyalty and the perceived moral obligations and burdens it lays on these teens. In trying to leverage his skill on the court into a financially secure future for his family, Bunny questions whether he has in fact been fair to Nasir, especially when he starts dating Keyona, the girl Nasir has long crushed on, and when he considers how lonely he is at his new high school. Nasir, on the other hand, is conflicted about how far he is willing to go to help Wallace out of the situation he’s gotten himself into. Readers will no doubt feel he goes too far, but his narration makes it clear how hard it is to give up on someone who needs more than you can give. Play-by-play sports writing, realistic dialogue, effective pacing, and a suspenseful plot mix with the boys’ more contemplative passages to make this a win for a broad audience. [End Page 306]

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