Customer Reviews

Hoops

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(37)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Hopes, dreams, aspirations and life lessons. Thats what HOOPS is about. We all have some sort of dream or game plan for our future, as well does 17 years old Lonnie,(the main charecter of this book). But do we all know what it's like to live in a less then ideal situation? To deal with the pressures of drugs, alcohol,and the treat of violence lurking in the air? These are all things Lonnie deals with in life, all the while just wanting to play his game. The game of basketball. He dreams of one day making it out of the projects and playing pro ball, with his lady Mary Ann by his side. That is Lonnie's dream. He knows this won't be easy. He must face his many challenges with his team and his coach. The team knows it must win the Tournament of Champions, but none of them want it more then Lonnie.So he knows he needs to practise hard and give it his all.With Cal's help and persuasion Lonnie has a chance. Cal is the coach. The man that will help keep the team together,right? Well not exactly. Cal has many challenges of his own to face. He has a past that doesn't seem to stay away. Cal is a former pro-player. He has problems with gambling and alcohol that keep haunting him. He tries hard to keep himself together, to show the team the right way of doing things, especially Lonnie. He wants Lonnie to make it out. To live out the dream he lost to greed and temptation. There are a lot of lessons that can be learned from HOOPS. I enjoyed reading this book and found it to be an easy read. But most of all I learned to never give up on my dreams. No matter what gets in the way.

Hoops is a book about a young 17yr old,named Lonnie.Lonnie lives in Harlem New York.He works at a hotel and he also lives there. Lonnie is playing basketball one night and mets this guy Cal.Abpot two weeks later Lonnie and his friends hear about a basketball tournimate.They decide to form one but they need a coach.Cal and Lonnie really didn't get along at first so Lonnie didn't like the idea of cal being the coach.Then Lonnie gave Cal a chance and they became very good friends.Lonnie tells Cal his dream of playing pro basketball,Cal tells Lonnie how he used to play pro basketball.Cal also says how much pressure you have when you play it pro. Lonnie don't want to hear what cal has to say and he decides to continue to follow his dream of playing pro basketball.Hoops also tells about how it is to grow up in a tough neighborhood.It also shows how friends stick bye eachother no matter what.The point of the book is to follow your dreams.so yeah I like the book a real lot.

Hoops, a novel written by Walter Dean Myers is a novel about a boy who expresses his love for the game of basketball. Lonnie Jackson a seventeen-year-old boy has a hard life. Lonnie has outstanding basketball skills, which he practices all day. Lonnie tries out for a tournament called The Tournament of Champions. Lonnie meets his coach and is not pleased with what he sees. Lonnie's coach, Cal, explains to him that he was once in the NBA. Lonnie starts to show much respect for Cal as he begins to teach them to become champions. Lonnie's teammates help lead the team to victory by making it to the championship. The day before the championship Cal gets a call from some heavy bettors and tells him to lose so they could make good money. [...] I recommend this book to teen readers who are interested in sports. I could easily relate this book to everyday life because it was so realistic. The author did an incredible job in writing this book.

Hoops is a good book. I thought it had some writing for older kids, though. Some parts were more for teens than preteens. There was some drinking and some black and white stuff and even some killing. It was good because it had a lot of basketball related parts. It had a lot of skills that I wish I could do. I like how at the end the coach who had had a bad reputation to gamble puts in the star player and at the end and they win. It shows a lot of character on the coach's part because he rose above his fear and overcame his gambling side with his basketball side. Hoops is about a kid named Lonny Jackson who is playing in a basketball tournament with his teammates and friends. He finds out that he is going to be coached by a guy named Cal who was formally a pro basketball player. Cal's nickname was "Spider" Jones. He was an excellent player. He was also a gambler. He gambled so much he would lose on purpose, or if they were winning by 5 with two seconds left he would let the guy around him and score and only win by three. It happens as if Cal "throws his game away." He enters a team in "The Tournament of Champions." As the championship game nears Cal starts the betting. The game is close and Lonny has not played because supposedly he has a hurt foot. As the clock ticks down to 5 minutes, Tyrone, the other gambler makes his bet. Cal sees this and puts in Lonny. Lonny lightes up the team and scores . He makes a steal . He is all over the court. With 10 seconds to go the score is tied. He takes the ball down the court and fakes out 1 guy. He runs into the lane and dishes to a teammate under the basket he shoots and, and ...

Read Hoops

You think your life is tough? Well, look at the life of a teenager growing up in New York City. Walter Dean Meyers takes you to these streets in Hoops.

Lonnie and his friends enter in a basketball tournament. However, to Lonnie's dislike, their coach is a man who he sees drunk a couple nights before the tournament. To his surprise, the coach, Cal, is a former pro basketball player. Ultimately, Cal, Lonnie and the rest of the team overcome many obstacles to win the tournament.

One strength of this book is that it is very suspenseful; after the first few chapters I couldn't put it down. For example, at the end of a chapter it says, "Tomorrow we would play against Boston," and I wanted to find out what happens at the game.

A weakness of this book is that it has a slow beginning, and it takes a while for it to get interesting. The first chapter only talks about what Lonnie's life is like and that is not very interesting.

Hoops is a good book, but part of the reason I enjoy playing basketball. For someone who does not really like or even hates basketball, this book is a bad choice.

I recommend this book to teenagers or preteens because the main characters are all teenagers. If a ten year old reads this book, he may have a hard time understanding the concepts.

Hoops by Walter Dean Myers is a fantastic read. This is the first Myers book that I have read and it makes me want to read another. This is not just for people who enjoy basketball but for anyone who has ever had a difficult decision to make. Lonnie Jackson is a seventeen-year-old boy who lives in Harlem, New York. He is your typical teenager, his mom gets on his nerves, he has a job working at a hotel,he has a girl who he cares about but can't exactly tell her, and he gets into some mischief. One thing sets him aside though, that is his love for basketball and his skills. These skills help lead his team into a tournament where his coach, and friend,Cal gets involved in some gambling. He sits Lonnie out because he is supposedly injured. Does Cal keep Lonnie on the bench and lose or does he put him in and have a better chance of winning? Read Hoops and find out.

This book was great and very realistic. It was about a senior in highschool trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life. When he hears about a tournament for basketball he goes and trys out. He goes through many problems with his coach and friends. When his team finally makes it to the finals the pressure is all on him. I won't give the rest of the story away, you will just have to read to find out the what happens.

The story is about a guy named Lonnie. It is in Harlem in New York. Lonnie has just finished high school and is able to spend his time playing his favorite sport, Basketball. His biggest dreams are to play basketball for the NBA, to earn a lot of money, and to become very popular. After one of his friends establishes a basketball team, Lonnie, of course, joins the team. But after he is told the name of the trainer, he becomes discouraged because Cal is known as a wino. At first he absolutely declines Cal, but after Cal talked with Lonnie about his past and after the first training lessons, Lonnie accepts him. In Lonnie, Cal sees the young boy that he once used to be himself. So he tries to support Lonnie and advance his skills. After awhile, the team enters into a big tournament. They have won some games and the tournament is coming closer. Meanwhile, the organizer of the tournament tries to convince Lonnie's team that it would be better if Cal, because of his past, wasn't the coach of the team. But his efforts failed to convince them because Lonnie likes Cal and of his support for them too much...

Hoops was a good book about an African-American teen who loves basketball. He's on a team and an ex pro ballplayer becomes thier coach. Throughout the story,the ex pro, Cal, and the teenager, Lonnie, become close. Cal shares his stories about the pros with Lonnie.
Myers did a good job with this story.Most of the characters I could relate to in one way or another. The book pulled me in every chance I got to read it. I highy recommend it if you like basketball.

The story of an untapped talent in the ghetto of the Harlem. Hoops is the story of Lonnie Jackson a basketball player with unlimited potential but lack of guidance and motivation. The strengths of the book are the easy relatable human themes. The book had no visable weaknesses it was a "page-turn". The book was short but Mr.Myers gave the reader plenty of in-sight into the depths of the charachters. I beleive that all people would enjoy this book, although athletic males would relate more easily. I enjoyed the story very much so, me and Lonnie are not that far apart in charachter. We both have the same intrests and mind-set. He, too is a young African American male with no real male role-model in his life and the frustrations of the world are beginning to take there toll on Lonnie...enter Cal an ex- NBA star washed up due to gambling problems. The basic plot of the story is Lonnie, the main charachter off the story, has all the talent in the world, but has no idea how to use that to help himself. Cal is the mentor who is going to introduce Lonnie to the cold harsh world, and believe in the Harlem Ghetto it's the coldest and harshest. Throught the story Cal teaches Lonnnie and the rest of the team through basketball that life has no limits if you know how to make it work for you. In the tournament the team is the best and using the life lessons (not the basketball) lessons they overcome the adversaries to win the tournament and beat the "world" at its own game. Cal dies and Lonnie finally is ready to be an adult in the world.