The Last Shot by Darcy Frey
ISBN: 0-684-81509-5
Frey, D. (1994). The Last Shot. New York: TOUCHSTONE.
Plot Summary
Abraham Lincoln high school in Coney Island, New York is home to one of strongest high school basketball teams. The boys who are chosen to play on the team are given one last shot to make something of themselves. If they play well, and keep their grades up, they might just earn college scholarships to Division I colleges. If their grades fall, or their SAT scores are not high enough, or their game is not good enough, they will end up living the same fate as their parents. The students come from housing projects, living off food stamps and welfare. Family members are unemployed, in jail, or dead. The Last Shot looks at the 1991 basketball season and follows four members of the team. Russell Thomas (pseudonym for Darryl Flickering), Corey Johnson, and Tchaka Shipp are seniors, while Stephon Marbury is a freshman. The year covers their triumphs on and off the court as they struggle to earn good grades and are recruited by college coaches. Their losses are also recorded, their failure to reach the minimum 700 SAT scores required to play college basketball, and arguments with each other and families. An epilogue explains where the players ended up once the book finished.
Critical Evaluation
A poignant, valuable, and sometimes depressing look into the lives of star high school basketball players. These are real students attending school in a run-down, crime-infested area of New York City. Their dreams to play college basketball and find a way out of the ghetto are a universal dream, but the reality is much bleaker. Though not the primary goal, Frey demonstrates how schools are failing their students. Poor teachers, lack of proper supplies, and overcrowding lend to an atmosphere where the students do not care, the teachers do not care, and the parents do not care. There is a sense of desperation running through the book, as the players know what is at stake. The four boys chronicled have different strengths and reasons for wanting college scholarships, but are representative of the people who play sports to find a way out. Sometimes cocky, sometimes unsure, sometimes vulnerable, sometimes egotistical, these boys becoming men reach out to readers. Their failures are your failures, and their successes are your successes. The mistakes made, the careless attitudes they may exhibit only serve to emphasize how young high school students are, and the lack of opportunity they have already experienced. Even when future dreams become seemingly impossible, Frey makes you want the impossible for these four students, and for all other students facing the same issues and decisions.
Reader’s Annotation
Offers an interesting look into the lives of four outstanding high school basketball stars in the 1991 season, and their prospects of playing for college.
About the Author
“Darcy Frey is the author of The Last Shot (Houghton-Mifflin, 1994), which was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and George Divoky's Planet (forthcoming from Pantheon). He has also been a Contributing Editor for Harper's Magazine and a longtime Contributing Writer for The New York Times Magazine, for which he has written about science, medicine, technology, music, art and the environment. His essays and journalism have been anthologized in Best American Essays and Best American Science Writing. His honors include a National Magazine Award, the Livingston Award for Young Journalists and an award for public service from the Society for Professional Journalists.”
Genre
Nonfiction/Sports
Curriculum Ties
How has high school prepared/or not prepared you for what comes next
Booktalking
How has high school prepared/or not prepared you for what comes next?
Are sports a way out of poverty?
Reading Level/Interest Level
RL: 9th grade
IL: 9th grade
Challenge Issues
Possible challenge issues include the pessimistic reality of life in the ghetto and the failure of the American education system.
In my defense file, I would include the following:
1) Library Mission Statement
2) Library Selection Policy approved by any or all of the following individuals—principal, school board, district librarian OR library manager, city council, mayor.
3) Library Bill of Rights adapted from CSLA Bill of Rights, AASL Bill of Rights and/or ALA Bill of Rights
4) Reviews, both positive and critical, from respected sources such as School Library Journal, VOYA, Booklist
5) Rationale for book inclusion for titles anticipated to be controversial, frequently challenged, or created when a book is challenged including: summary, audience, purpose, controversial issues and how they are handled
6) How the book fits within Common Core Standards or State Standards
7) Reconsideration form for challenger to complete—include a section asking which part was of particular concern, if the entire book was read, and what other similar titles are suggested instead
8) Student reviews from those who have read the book and either enjoyed or disliked the book and why.
Why Included
I felt it was important to include a non-fiction book, as well as more sports.
Others in the Series
N/A
References
President and Fellows of Harvard College. (2013). Creative writing faculty. Retrieved from http://english.fas.harvard.edu/programs/undergraduate/creative-writing/creative-writing-faculty.
ISBN: 0-684-81509-5
Frey, D. (1994). The Last Shot. New York: TOUCHSTONE.
Plot Summary
Abraham Lincoln high school in Coney Island, New York is home to one of strongest high school basketball teams. The boys who are chosen to play on the team are given one last shot to make something of themselves. If they play well, and keep their grades up, they might just earn college scholarships to Division I colleges. If their grades fall, or their SAT scores are not high enough, or their game is not good enough, they will end up living the same fate as their parents. The students come from housing projects, living off food stamps and welfare. Family members are unemployed, in jail, or dead. The Last Shot looks at the 1991 basketball season and follows four members of the team. Russell Thomas (pseudonym for Darryl Flickering), Corey Johnson, and Tchaka Shipp are seniors, while Stephon Marbury is a freshman. The year covers their triumphs on and off the court as they struggle to earn good grades and are recruited by college coaches. Their losses are also recorded, their failure to reach the minimum 700 SAT scores required to play college basketball, and arguments with each other and families. An epilogue explains where the players ended up once the book finished.
Critical Evaluation
A poignant, valuable, and sometimes depressing look into the lives of star high school basketball players. These are real students attending school in a run-down, crime-infested area of New York City. Their dreams to play college basketball and find a way out of the ghetto are a universal dream, but the reality is much bleaker. Though not the primary goal, Frey demonstrates how schools are failing their students. Poor teachers, lack of proper supplies, and overcrowding lend to an atmosphere where the students do not care, the teachers do not care, and the parents do not care. There is a sense of desperation running through the book, as the players know what is at stake. The four boys chronicled have different strengths and reasons for wanting college scholarships, but are representative of the people who play sports to find a way out. Sometimes cocky, sometimes unsure, sometimes vulnerable, sometimes egotistical, these boys becoming men reach out to readers. Their failures are your failures, and their successes are your successes. The mistakes made, the careless attitudes they may exhibit only serve to emphasize how young high school students are, and the lack of opportunity they have already experienced. Even when future dreams become seemingly impossible, Frey makes you want the impossible for these four students, and for all other students facing the same issues and decisions.
Reader’s Annotation
Offers an interesting look into the lives of four outstanding high school basketball stars in the 1991 season, and their prospects of playing for college.
About the Author
“Darcy Frey is the author of The Last Shot (Houghton-Mifflin, 1994), which was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and George Divoky's Planet (forthcoming from Pantheon). He has also been a Contributing Editor for Harper's Magazine and a longtime Contributing Writer for The New York Times Magazine, for which he has written about science, medicine, technology, music, art and the environment. His essays and journalism have been anthologized in Best American Essays and Best American Science Writing. His honors include a National Magazine Award, the Livingston Award for Young Journalists and an award for public service from the Society for Professional Journalists.”
Genre
Nonfiction/Sports
Curriculum Ties
How has high school prepared/or not prepared you for what comes next
Booktalking
How has high school prepared/or not prepared you for what comes next?
Are sports a way out of poverty?
Reading Level/Interest Level
RL: 9th grade
IL: 9th grade
Challenge Issues
Possible challenge issues include the pessimistic reality of life in the ghetto and the failure of the American education system.
In my defense file, I would include the following:
1) Library Mission Statement
2) Library Selection Policy approved by any or all of the following individuals—principal, school board, district librarian OR library manager, city council, mayor.
3) Library Bill of Rights adapted from CSLA Bill of Rights, AASL Bill of Rights and/or ALA Bill of Rights
4) Reviews, both positive and critical, from respected sources such as School Library Journal, VOYA, Booklist
5) Rationale for book inclusion for titles anticipated to be controversial, frequently challenged, or created when a book is challenged including: summary, audience, purpose, controversial issues and how they are handled
6) How the book fits within Common Core Standards or State Standards
7) Reconsideration form for challenger to complete—include a section asking which part was of particular concern, if the entire book was read, and what other similar titles are suggested instead
8) Student reviews from those who have read the book and either enjoyed or disliked the book and why.
Why Included
I felt it was important to include a non-fiction book, as well as more sports.
Others in the Series
N/A
References
President and Fellows of Harvard College. (2013). Creative writing faculty. Retrieved from http://english.fas.harvard.edu/programs/undergraduate/creative-writing/creative-writing-faculty.
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