e-Audio, 08:14:10
Narrated by: Jesse Nobess
Release Date: September 12, 2023
Published by: Heartdrum
Read from: November 9-10, 2023
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby
TW: underage drinking and drug use, racial profiling by police, racism, loss of sibling
For Readers Interested In: Coming of Age, Sports (Basketball), Romance, 2SLGBTQ+ (Love Interest was 2 spirit or liked 2 or more genders), Male POV, Grief, Racial/Ethnic Diversity (Indigenous-Ojibwe), Own Voices, Realistic Fiction, Family Diversity (Loss of a sibling), YAThis compelling debut novel by new talent Byron Graves tells the relatable, high-stakes story of a young athlete determined to play like the hero his Ojibwe community needs him to be. These days, Tre Brun is happiest when he is playing basketball on the Red Lake Reservation high school team—even though he can’t help but be constantly gut-punched with memories of his big brother, Jaxon, who died in an accident. When Jaxon’s former teammates on the varsity team offer to take Tre under their wing, he sees this as his shot to represent his Ojibwe rez all the way to their first state championship. This is the first step toward his dream of playing in the NBA, no matter how much the odds are stacked against him. But stepping into his brother’s shoes as a star player means that Tre can’t mess up. Not on the court, not at school, and not with his new friend, gamer Khiana, who he is definitely not falling in love with. After decades of rez teams almost making it, Tre needs to take his team to state. Because if he can live up to Jaxon’s dreams, their story isn’t over yet. This book is published by Heartdrum, an imprint that publishes high-quality, contemporary stories about Indigenous young people in the United States and Canada.
*MY THOUGHTS*
As a sports girlie I was so freaking stressed out by this book! I got too into the games and was imagining myself going through the motions as I was reading the plays. This was the first book where I was super into and it was a sport that I actually played before. And that made it that much more engrossing to me.
Ok so first off, at the beginning of this year I realized that I could/should do a better job at reading some books that have disability rep. As it turns out, I realized this year that I should also be reading more Indigenous rep. I had added a bunch to my TBR, but for various reasons (triggers for me) I hadn’t read them yet. This one had a bit of a trigger for me, but I was able to read it and skip around. But I will make a more conscience effort to read more next year and the coming years. I pointed this out to say that I was glad I started with this one. Its own voices with a character from Ojibwe tribe. And the author was also an athlete so he knew the way to make this exciting as well. It was also set on a reservation, so it was interesting to see how their life was there and how they interacted with schools/kids that they played that weren’t on the rez vs those that were. Also, in news to no one, they also showed that the racism and antagonizing by the police that they faced.
The plot to this was the coolest thing to me. He was so good at basketball and had been training all summer to work harder and be better. He was working to be one of the first Indigenous players in the NBA and I loved that. He had so much drive and I was impressed by the way he was able to keep going no matter what he faced. I DID feel that he had too much pressure on him that he didn’t deserve. His brother and his dad were legends. And after losing his brother, his dad didn’t really make it to where he felt comfortable with making mistakes or not doing the same things they did. His father was too into his own grief still to realize they were different and what Tre did in his own way was important too. He was hyping it up so much Tre didn’t realize it either and I hated that for him. And no I’m not telling anyone how to grieve, or that his dad wasn’t grieving the right way, I’m just saying he needed to remember that he had 2 children and it wasn’t ok to keep comparing them.
There is also a large amount of triggers in this for me. But I was able to skip over them and just read the dialogue. It was a lot easier to do that versus having to read about the underage drinking and drug usage. Y’all know after some family problems I can’t read that, but this isn’t a knock to the rating or anything. Just me saying that I didn’t miss anything important by just reading the dialogue in case someone has the same issues as me. On the flip side, I will say if you’re not a sports person or don’t know basketball, I would say this might be a hard book for you. There’s terms, and shot names, and teams etc. Those you’re not able to skip over. They’re also not really explained, so if you don’t know what they are, you might be Googling for a while lol But it’s still good. So even if you have to Google, it’s definitely worth it.
Also as a sports girlie I went through so much emotion when I read this! Like I was yelling and cheering for him during the games. My heart was racing when they were losing. I was grieving with him over the loss of his brother. I even cried at one point because of the way the game ended. I was a ball of emotion. And Idk I wasn’t expecting to see that when I was reading a sports book. I had no idea that crying was going to happen lol
The other characters just didn’t seem well rounded to me. I didn’t really know much about them besides like one thing. Tre’s parents were still stuck in grief, more so his dad. His friends were terrible. Literally all of them. I was not impressed. The two people that should have been on his side and stayed there betrayed him and they made him feel like he wasn’t allowed to feel hurt. (And I didn’t like that. I get that she didn’t owe him anything, but as a friend, I would have thought one of them would have said hey and mentioned it. At the very least. It just felt mean spirted.) Idk, I know this was a coming of age story, but it could have done with some more characters that were helping shape his experience.
The narrator was also really good. I was able to put it up to 2.2 without distorting the voice and I was able to understand them just as if I was listening at 1.0. I also really liked that they sounded a bit out of breath when they were in the game, they sounded really upset when other emotions came in to play and more. I thought Nobess had a really great performance.
This book was an all around surprise for me. I felt things, I learned things, and I could not stop reading. I know this author is a debut author, but it didn’t feel like it. I can’t wait to read more by Graves in the future!
Overall, I give this
