The Bracket Reveal

by Melissa J. Oleen Rowan Public Library

As I write, I am awaiting The Bracket reveal.  That’s right, THE Tournament, March Madness, the Big Dance, the NCAA Championship or, as we think of it on the Great Plains, “How you get through the last month of winter”.  When you read this, some fans will be wiping brows with relief that their top picks made it through round 1, some crying tears over a tournament finished way too soon, others cursing the games that trashed their office bracket, and a few secretly smiling at the loss that will free up the TV again for the next few weeks.

No matter your team’s status, RPL has books to compliment your family’s basketball interests.  Here I am focusing on books for young readers.  For the statisticians and dinner table debaters, new titles include: All Ball, Basketball’s Greatest Players.  This book highlights the sports greatest players by position and includes female players.  Ruling the Court: Basketball’s Biggest Wins covers the big tournaments: NBA, WNBA, Basketball World Cup and Paralympics.  Who’s Who of Basketball: A Guide to the Games Greatest Players uses statistics, facts and Sports Illustrated photos to discover the best of the best.

Basketball’s Greatest Players is an eBook available via the NC Digital Library.  This title covers six of the biggest names in professional basketball with great overviews of their careers and interesting personal information.  These players sometimes go by the following nicknames: Secretary of Defense, The Big Dipper, Cap, Hick From French Lick, His Airness and King James.  How many can you identify?

Trying to tie your youngster’s love of basketball to schoolwork?  Try Math on the Court.  This title explains how math applies to the game of basketball “from the length of the court to the calculation of players’ stats”.  The Science of Basketball: Top Ten Ways Science Affects the Game includes chapters on hardwood and concrete, mass and momentum, loud arenas and basketball shoes.

                Hoop Genius: How a Rowdy Gym Class Invented Basketball by John Coy is a wonderful non-fiction picture book that reveals the true story of why and how James Naismith invented it.  Parent’s will enjoy the end covers on which the original first draft of Naismith’s basketball rules which hung in the gym “that the boys might learn the rules”.  H.O.R.S.E a Game of Basketball and Imagination by Christopher Myers is a modern basketball picture book about two kids who play perhaps the most challenging game of H.O.R.S.E. ever.  Children will enjoy the characters trying to outdo each others’ basketball shots.  Both of these titles are available via the NC Digital Library as eBooks.

The Crossover, 2015 Newberry Medal Winner by Kwame Alexander is an exceptional middle grade novel told in verse through the voice of the contemporary main character, dread-locked twelve year old Josh Bell.  Josh and his twin brother JB are tight-knit basketball stars at their junior high school and like many in Rowan County “I want to go to Duke, he flaunts Carolina Blue.  If we didn’t love each other, we’d HATE each other.”  The Crossover takes us through a basketball season during which the boys grow apart for the first time, yes – there is a girl.  The NC Digital eAudio edition of The Crossover takes full advantage of the verse.

Now, get back to the tournament and good luck with your brackets!