Road Trip, Book 5

Deborah Dowson is a Canadian children’s librarian living in Powell,
Ohio.

The Mississauga Magic basketball team is participating in an
international tournament and everyone is feeling a little intimidated by
the pomp and circumstance of such a prestigious event. The tournament is
held in a town where Coach Barkley is a celebrity from his college days,
and he is well remembered for his exceptional, albeit short,
professional career. This draws a great deal of media attention to the
team, as does the fact that their team member Kia is the only female
playing in the tournament. The team’s unexpected success also draws
some unwelcome attention from the tournament officials who contend that
Kia is ineligible to play because of her sex. The team learns to cope
with the distractions of the crowds, the cameras, the biased referee,
and the discriminatory tournament officials, and with the unanticipated
help of their biggest rivals, they achieve the most important thing, the
right to play together as a team.

Eric Walters continues to expand the scope of this team’s experience
in this ongoing basketball series. Once again he tackles serious issues
and adult situations from the innocent and honest perspective of the
young players. Walters knows what is important to kids, and his
attention to detail adds to the quality of realism in the story. The
pace of the story is excellent, with creative and unexpected turns of
events that keep the plot interesting and fresh as the suspense and
complexity build to an exciting climax. Highly recommended.