Hoop Girlz [Hardcover]

Lucy Jane Bledsoe (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

When ten-year-old River, who is crazy about basketball, is not chosen to play in the tournament set up in the town of Azalea, Oregon, she decides to organize a team of her own and accepts the help of her older brother.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-7-A contrived plot and two-dimensional characters render this a disappointing addition to the sports-fiction genre. Sixth-grader River Jacobs is passionate about basketball and dreams of some day playing for the WNBA. She tries out for the team that will participate in a state tournament but doesn't make it. After her initial disappointment, she and the others who were cut form a team of their own, calling themselves the Hoop Girlz. There are several threads running through the story, some of which remain undeveloped. River's parents scoff at competitiveness, for example, but their attitude doesn't really impact on the story, and her 14-year-old brother becomes the team's coach, showing the leadership qualities of an adult. Add to the mix a haunted house in the town and its mysterious owner, and a miraculous turnaround in Coach Glover's personality and you have the book's convenient plot. Underlying all are platitudes about perseverance, dedication, and the need to follow your dreams. Maureen Holohan's Friday Nights (Broadway Ballplayers, 1997) is a more enjoyable read.
Renee Steinberg, Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-7. Eleven-year-old River Borowitz-Jacobs, a sixth-grader in tiny Azaela, Oregon, dreams of playing basketball in the WNBA, just like her idol, Emily Hargraves, also from Azaela. She thinks she's on her way when the new high-school coach announces the formation of a sixth-grade girls team that will compete in a tournament with teams from other nearby towns; the most valuable player in the tournament will get to meet Hargraves and attend her basketball camp. Emily's dreams appear derailed when she is cut from the "A" team, but she gathers together the other rejects, including a wheelchair-bound girl with a terrific outside shot, and forms Hoop Girlz, dedicated to having fun. The setup smacks of yet another version of Bad News Bears, but Bledsoe cleverly avoids most of the cliches, not only by varying the ending but also by injecting lots of against-the-grain subplots, including River's hopelessly uncool parents, artists and latter-day hippies who don't believe in competition and eat bee pollen. The basketball scenes are well constructed and realistic, the humor is fresh, and the characters are believable. Good fun for hoop girls and boys alike. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Holiday House; 1st edition (October 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823416917
• ISBN-13: 978-0823416912
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,301,692 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lucy Jane Bledsoe is the author of many novels, including the Spring 2010 "The Big Bang Symphony: a novel of Antarctica." She loves good food, wilderness, friends, and all felines and sea mammals. She's been to Antarctica three time and stayed in all three American stations, as well as in field camps where scientists are studying penguins, the Big Bang, and climate change. She believes novels should engage the mind and the heart.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Hoop Girlz review, March 19, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Hoop Girlz (Hardcover)

Basketball is one of my favorite sports. I liked the book Hoop Girlz because it tells a story about girls around my age who play basketball just like me. Lucy Jane Bledsoe has written many books about sports but Hoop Girlz is my favorite because it is about a sport that I could relate to. Now if I read her book on baseball I would not be interested in it at all because I personally don't know anything about baseball. Any hoops player including myself would find it somewhat easy to understand because you know the pressure and hardships that come with playing this sport.
Hoop Girlz is about a sixth grade girl named River Borowitz- Jacobs. She and her cocky neighbor Kammie try out for their school basketball team. However, she becomes very disappointed to find out that she made the B team while Kammie made the A team. River decides to name her team Hoop Girlz and hopes that she with some help from her brother can help the team win the tournament. This book kept me very interested and it was believable because the outline of the story is something that would happen in real life and something that I can closely relate to. There are no slow or confusing parts and the whole story connects together at the end. This is one of the best books I have ever read.
The author, Lucy Jane Bledsoe, has an extraordinary way of describing the actions and characters in this story. My favorite part of the whole story was the ending because if all came together and all of my questions were answered. I do wish that the author had extended this book a little farther or made a sequel because even though most of my questions were answered I still had many more. For example, will River be a professional basketball player when she grows up? Over all Hoop Girlz was still a very interesting book.
I recommend Hoop Girlz to anyone who enjoys basketball or is into sports and fiction. If I had to rate this book between a one and a five I would definitely rate this book a five. Read Hoop Girlz and be ready for an incredible book.

5.0 out of 5 stars Hoop Girlz review, March 19, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Hoop Girlz (Hardcover)

Basketball is one of my favorite sports. I liked the book Hoop Girlz because it tells a story about girls around my age who play basketball just like me. Lucy Jane Bledsoe has written many books about sports but Hoop Girlz is my favorite because it is about a sport that I could relate to. Now if I read her book on baseball I would not be interested in it at all because I personally don't know anything about baseball. Any hoops player including myself would find it somewhat easy to understand because you know the pressure and hardships that come with playing this sport.
Hoop Girlz is about a sixth grade girl named River Borowitz- Jacobs. She and her cocky neighbor Kammie try out for their school basketball team. However, she becomes very disappointed to find out that she made the B team while Kammie made the A team. River decides to name her team Hoop Girlz and hopes that she with some help from her brother can help the team win the tournament. This book kept me very interested and it was believable because the outline of the story is something that would happen in real life and something that I can closely relate to. There are no slow or confusing parts and the whole story connects together at the end. This is one of the best books I have ever read.
The author, Lucy Jane Bledsoe, has an extraordinary way of describing the actions and characters in this story. My favorite part of the whole story was the ending because if all came together and all of my questions were answered. I do wish that the author had extended this book a little farther or made a sequel because even though most of my questions were answered I still had many more. For example, will River be a professional basketball player when she grows up? Over all Hoop Girlz was still a very interesting book.
I recommend Hoop Girlz to anyone who enjoys basketball or is into sports and fiction. If I had to rate this book between a one and a five I would definitely rate this book a five. Read Hoop Girlz and be ready for an incredible book.

3.0 out of 5 stars Contrived, yes but still a fun read, May 12, 2003

By 

okgal "okgalz" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hoop Girlz (Hardcover)

The editorial review called it contrived and I guess that's right but my 12 year old hoop playing daughter enjoyed it nevertheless. It was a fun read and did show the hard work involved in getting good. I didn't like the weak, clueless parents but did appreciate that unlike so many other sports stories, the underdog did not win in the end. Basketball girls, ages 9-12 will probably like this book.