Gym Class Hero, Paperback/Martin Parks Kalmbach

Descriere

Life is throwing a lot at Stevie Kalkannes as he begins his Junior year at Jackson High School. As basketball season approaches in northern Ohio, Stevie wonders whether he should return to playing a game he loves after being the star of the team in junior high, then giving it up in defiance of an overbearing father, a bombastic sports talk show host now divorced from Stevie's mother - and a very critical older brother, a former star player at Stevie's school. Gym Class Hero captures the emotions of a high school basketball player as he weaves his way in and out of trouble, often caused by his spurious and irreverent comments directed at coaches and teachers, and his inability to make clutch free throws in the games waning seconds. Adding to Stevie's high school quandaries is a budding romance with a devilish fickle cheerleader named Mindy, a recent transfer student. A dating novice, Stevie contemplates whether he should continue to date her as she both boosts and undermines his confidence. Stevie turns to two new friends he meets through his Food and Fitness class for help, mature H. S. Senior girls Alison and Jillian, wordies and citizen scientists, who take him under their wing to advise him about girlfriends, love, vegetarianism, yoga and mindfulness, and to his surprise, give him basketball tips to improve his game. Title: Gym Class Hero Author: Martin Parks Kalmbach Genre: Fiction/General Fiction (including literary and historical) Audience: YA/Middle Grade Word Count: 90, 525 KIRKUS REVIEW A debut YA novel tells the story of a high school junior trying to get a grip on his basketball game--and his life. Stevie Kalkannes' friends call him the "Gym Class Hero" because, despite his skills on the basketball court--"Known as the best three ball shooter in the school, I could rain threes, teardrops from the sky"--he has refused to play for the Jackson High School team. But during his junior year, a new coach comes to town, and Stevie decides he might want to start living up