Jonas is a decent basketball player, but he doesn't kid himself that he has a chance at professional ball. In his Junior year, though, his coach notices his steady improvement at the game, and convinces Jonas that a basketball scholarship at a Division II school is within his grasp. Suddenly, Jonas considers the possibility of attending college after high school. With the help of his coach, Jonas submits a film of his game to a number of colleges, and sparks the interest of a coach at Monitor College. But Jonas will have to improve his academics if he is going to be accepted at the College. Then, just as Jonas' life seems to be coming together, his father loses his job and his family is forced to move to Seattle, a new school and a new coach for Jonas,
if he can get on the team.
Swagger, by Carl Deuker
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2 comments:
If you're looking for great sports fiction, Deuker serves it up time and again. Try this book and see what you think about it. Yet, Deuker doesn't stop there, the conflicts are timely and believable, the characters are fully developed and there's more to his books than just on the court or field action - there's a lot of heart. At least I think so, but please tell us what you think about this one.
Swagger was about a basketball player named Jonas. During the course of the book, he undergoes a move during high school, being the new team member on the high school basketball he attends, and the friendships and relationships with other players, his coaches, and his friends. I would describe Swagger as an underdog story with a dash of ethical/moral dilemma. Jonas is an underdog in several ways. He is an outsider on the basketball team until he becomes part of the team, and in getting the college scholarship he wants.
Based on the book summary, I was surprised by the experiences that Jonas’s friend Levi had and the difficult decision Jonas had to make. However, the situation of sexual abuse was handled very well by the author because Jonas makes the right decision regardless of what it will do to his future, particularly his college scholarships.
One aspect of the book I found interesting was that many of the character names were biblical, such as Jonas, Rachel, and Levi. The importance of religion in Levi’s decisions in the book and Levi’s father’s steadfast belief in his religion also reflects another underlying theme. One aspect of the book I did not like was how the author’s note was very sparse. It could have had more information, symptoms and behaviors of a person being sexually abused, and statistics on the prevalence of sexual abused teenagers.
As a whole, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.
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