Travel Team [Paperback]

Mike Lupica (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 18, 2005 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Twelve-year-old Danny Walker may be the smallest kid on the basketball court -- but don't tell him that. Because no one plays with more heart or court sense. But none of that matters when he is cut from his local travel team, the very same team his father led to national prominence as a boy. Danny's father, still smarting from his own troubles, knows Danny isn't the only kid who was cut for the wrong reason, and together, this washed-up former player and a bunch of never-say-die kids prove that the heart simply cannot be measured.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8–Danny is a basketball fanatic. He is smart, talented, fast, and dedicated, but short. When he fails to make the seventh-grade travel team, he also fails to follow in the footsteps of his legendary father, Richie Walker, who led his own 12-year-old team to win the nationals and whose career was tragically ended by a car accident. Danny, who lives with his warm and supportive mom, has a somewhat stilted relationship with his less-reliable father. Danny did not make the squad because of the machinations of Richie's childhood nemesis, Mr. Ross, a controlling man who is determined to build a winning team. Although this text lacks only the stage directions and music cues to make the transition to the small screen as a Hallmark special, it really is a fun book for sports fans. Danny and the others cut from the travel team predictably form their own squad, coached by his father who battles alcoholism (and another car accident!) to lead them, with Danny's leadership, to the climactic game against their arch rivals. Although the kids compare themselves to the Bad News Bears, they are strictly old-school, harkening back to Stephen W. Meader's Sparkplug of the Hornets(Harcourt, 1968; o.p.). There's even a sweetly innocent romance with a wise-beyond-her-years girl who uses IM/chat to provide Danny with support just when he needs it most. A round-ball heart-warmer.–Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Junior High School, Iowa City, IA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Gr. 6-8. Danny Walker is crushed when he doesn't make the Vikings, the seventh-grade basketball team. He is told that he is too short, but he suspects that the real reason has something to do with the bad blood between his divorced father (a former NBA star whose career was cut short by a car accident) and Mr. Ross, the father of the team's best player. Then Danny's father announces that he is starting his own youth team, but unexpected setbacks sideline his dad and the team until Danny steps in and coaches the team himself. Some readers may find that the story drags at times, and sports cliches fill the final pages. Still, Lupica creates a sports novel that is rich in details; this is one of the few novels about basketball, for example, that actually mentions zone defenses rather than the perennial one-on-one scenes in most basketball novels. Many fans of sports fiction will like this. Todd Morning
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (August 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142404624
• ISBN-13: 978-0142404621
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (82 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,884 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #3 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Sports & Activities > Sports > Basketball
  • #7 in Books > Children's Books > Sports & Games > Sports > Basketball
  • #13 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Sports & Activities > Sports > General

More About the Author

Mike Lupica is one of the most prominent sports writers in America. His longevity at the top of his field is based on his experience and insider's knowledge, coupled with a provocative presentation that takes an uncompromising look at the tumultuous world of professional sports. Today he is a syndicated columnist for the New York Daily News, which includes his popular "Shooting from the Lip" column, which appears every Sunday. He began his newspaper career covering the New York Knicks for the New York Post at age 23. He became the youngest columnist ever at a New York paper with the New York Daily News, which he joined in 1977. For more than 30 years, Lupica has added magazines, novels, sports biographies, other non-fiction books on sports, as well as television to his professional resume. For the past fifteen years, he has been a TV anchor for ESPN's The Sports Reporters. He also hosted his own program, The Mike Lupica Show on ESPN2. In 1987, Lupica launched "The Sporting Life" column in Esquire magazine. He has published articles in other magazines, including Sport, World Tennis, Tennis, Golf Digest, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, ESPN: The Magazine, Men's Journal and Parade. He has received numerous honors, including the 2003 Jim Murray Award from the National Football Foundation. Mike Lupica co-wrote autobiographies with Reggie Jackson and Bill Parcells, collaborated with noted author and screenwriter, William Goldman on Wait Till Next Year, and wrote The Summer of '98, Mad as Hell: How Sports Got Away from the Fans and How We Get It Back and Shooting From the Lip, a collection of columns. In addition, he has written a number of novels, including Dead Air, Extra Credits, Limited Partner, Jump, Full Court Press, Red Zone, Too Far and national bestsellers Wild Pitch and Bump and Run. Dead Air was nominated for the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best First Mystery and became a CBS television move, "Money, Power, Murder" to which Lupica contributed the teleplay. Over the years he has been a regular on the CBS Morning News, Good Morning America and The MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour. On the radio, he has made frequent appearances on Imus in the Morning since the early 1980s. His previous young adult novels, Travel Team, Heat, Miracle on 49th Street, and the summer hit for 2007, Summer Ball, have shot up the New York Times bestseller list. Lupica is also what he describes as a "serial Little League coach," a youth basketball coach, and a soccer coach for his four children, three sons and a daughter. He and his family live in Connecticut.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, October 29, 2004

By 

Luke Iverson "L.D" (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Travel Team (Hardcover)

Mike Lupica has a masterpiece with this book. This is one of the best book's I have ever read. It's suggestion on the age level on this book's site isnt correct according to me. I think this book should be read by 12-15 year olds, thus because it deals with so many serious situations. This is a great comeback story, and i hope my review can convince you to by it.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 7th grade book club choice, November 22, 2004

By 

LARS (Chicago area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Travel Team (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book. I read Mike Lupica's novels and ordered this book on their strength. My daughter heard me laughing while reading it and wanted to see what was so funny. Now a group of 12 year old girls are reading it for their book club and love it. This book really is for the 11 to 14 year old age group, but don't be misled by the subject matter the girls are finding lots to interest them including the ones who have no interest in basketball.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Travel Team by Mike Lupica, February 15, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Travel Team (Hardcover)

Ever discouraged by your height? Danny Walker wasn't until he got cut from the seventh grade travel basketball team because he was too short. Everyone knew Danny was one of the best basketball players. Even the coaches that had cut him from the Vikings, the team his dad led to the championships when he was 12 knew he was one of the best. The only problem was that the coaches wanted to go big this year, meaning they wanted to have big intiminating players, even if that meant cutting the best. Danny was frustrated for awhile, but that just made him strive harder to improve on his passing, shooting, and his favorite, the double crossover. Since Danny was cut from the Vikings, what will he do this basketball season?

I'm not a big fan of reading, but this is the best book I have ever read, and I am not just saying that. Even though Travel Team isn't based on a true story it relates to real situations. For example, I have a friend that got cut from the seventh grade school team because they were too short, but they improved so much after that, they made the eigth grade team the next year.

I would recommend this book to anyone, I mean anyone even those who don't know the first thing about basketball, like, that in basketball you use a ball. People that would enjoy this book the most are probably seventh graders, people that are short or think they are too short, sports players, and anyone that likes to get into a good book. If you don't like basketball you can check out some of the other books Mike Lupica wrote. Some of those books are Heat, Bump and Run, Red Zone, Summer of 98, and Operation Clean Sweep. Travel Team is definetly my favorite book, and I suggest reading it, because it can easily become your favorite book too.