Waiting on Wednesday: Half-Court Shot by Tommy Greenwald

Image: Abrams Books

Half-Court Shot: a Game Changer Novel by Tommy Greenwald. 240 p. Amulet Books/ Abrams Books, April 27, 2027. 9781419791123.

Tommy Greenwald announced this a few weeks ago and I'm just now getting around to featuring it here because I've been a bad blogger. I first learned about Tommy Greenwald when Ms. Fraser brought her fifth grade class to the library way back in the fall of 2011. They were all clamoring for Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to (Not) Reading, a book I had never heard of. Ms. Fraser was reading it aloud and it was such a hit that nearly every one of her students wanted to read it! Well, I got right on it and was hooked. I have read each new installment of CJJ as well as the other books in the Game Changer series. 

Here's the publisher synopsis: (the books are all stand-alones)

From award-winning author Tommy Greenwald comes a thrilling companion novel to Game Changerabout a star basketball player and the anonymous social media account that builds him up . . . then breaks him down.

Told through a combination of narration, journals, posts, and more, Half-Court Shot is a gripping, fast-paced story for middle-grade readers about the power of social media, the pressure of youth sports, and the courage to stand up for what's right.

To shy, lonely Emerson Crick, Sawyer Kane seems like the kid who has it all. He's popular, charismatic, and—as the freshman star of the high school varsity basketball team—a Walthorne sports hero in the making. Emerson, a sophomore who is the biggest basketball fan in town, writes about the team on his anonymous blog under the pseudonym Hoopstar. At first, Hoopstar is Sawyer's number one supporter, but when an ill-fated face-to-face encounter leaves Emerson humiliated, the once super-fan blog turns on its favorite player.

As the social media firestorm gets inside his head, Sawyer's season begins to fall apart. To get things back on track, Sawyer sets off on a mission to find the anonymous blogger and put a stop to his posts . . . before Sawyer has to give up basketball for good.

Happy reading!