Flying Lessons & Other Stories - Hardcover

Alexander, Kwame; Baptist, Kelly J.; Chainani, Soman; De La Peña, Matt; Lin, Grace; Medina, Meg; Tingle, Tim; Woodson, Jacqueline

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 110193459X ISBN 13: 9781101934593

Verlag: Crown Books for Young Readers, 2017

Inhaltsangabe

Whether it is basketball dreams, family fiascos, first crushes, or new neighborhoods, this bold short story collection—written by some of the best children’s authors including Kwame Alexander, Meg Medina, Jacqueline Woodson, and many more and published in partnership with We Need Diverse Books—celebrates the uniqueness and universality in all of us.
 
"Will resonate with any kid who's ever felt different—which is to say, every kid." —Time
 
Great stories take flight in this adventurous middle-grade anthology crafted by ten of the most recognizable and diverse authors writing today. Newbery Medalist Kwame Alexander delivers a story in-verse about a boy who just might have magical powers; National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson spins a tale of friendship against all odds; and Meg Medina uses wet paint to color in one girl’s world with a short story that inspired her Newbery award-winner Merci Suárez Changes Gear. Plus, seven more bold voices that bring this collection to new heights with tales that challenge, inspire, and celebrate the unique talents within us all.
 
AUTHORS INCLUDE: Kwame Alexander, Kelly J. Baptist, Soman Chainani, Matt de la Peña, Tim Federle, Grace Lin, Meg Medina, Walter Dean Myers, Tim Tingle, Jacqueline Woodson
 
“There’s plenty of magic in this collection to go around.” —Booklist, Starred

“A natural for middle school classrooms and libraries.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred

“Inclusive, authentic, and eminently readable.” —School Library Journal, Starred

“Thought provoking and wide-ranging . . . should not be missed.”—Publishers Weekly, Starred 

“Read more books by these authors.” —The Bulletin, Starred

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Ellen Oh is cofounder and president of We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) and author of the YA fantasy trilogy the Prophecy series and the middle-grade novel The Spirit Hunters, to be published in fall 2017. She was named one of Publishers Weekly’s Notable People of 2014. Ellen met Walter Dean Myers and his son Christopher Myers at one of her first book festivals. Already nervous, her mouth dropped open when she saw the pair towering over the crowd. Chris took pity on an awestruck Ellen and introduced himself, and he and Walter couldn’t have been nicer, taking her under their wing and treating her like an old friend. Oh resides in Bethesda, Maryland, with her husband and three children. Discover more at ellenoh.com.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium

Matt de la Peña

 

 

It’s finally summer.

 

Go ahead, take a deep breath. You’re free.

 

All year long your moms has been on you like glue about algebra worksheets and science fair projects and the knee-high stack of books Mrs. Baker assigned for English class. And you did what you had to do. Two As and four Bs.

 

Truth is, you’re actually pretty smart.

 

School comes easy.

 

You told Baker in that end-of-the-year five-page paper what was up with Esperanza’s dreams and the symbolism of the Mango Street house, and you pulled down a 96 percent--second-highest grade in the class. But even as you typed out that essay, you had an indoor-outdoor in your lap. Between sentences you daydreamed finger rolls over outstretched hands.

 

See, here’s what all the hard-core homework pushers don’t get.

 

For people like you, ball is more than just ball.

 

It’s a way out.

 

A path to those tree-lined lives they always show on TV.

 

You’ve crunched the numbers and read the tea leaves. Fact is, you’ll never hit the books as hard as Boy Genius Jeremiah Villa. Sylvia Diaz, either. Even your boy Francisco, from down the hall. There are folks in this world who live to mark up a fat World History textbook with an arsenal of colored highlighters.

 

You’re not one of them.

 

You spend too much time on back-alley ball-handling drills to compete.

 

Nah, the game of basketball is your best chance.

 

 

 

The Fate of Your Hoop Development

 

 

For the past three years you’ve spent every free minute balling at an outdoor court down the street from your building. After school. After games. Weekends. You name it.

 

Most nights you’re still out there putting up shots, alone, when the sun falls behind the ocean and the automatic park lights come flickering on, spilling that strange yellow half-light across the cracked concrete.

 

Ball is like anything else.

 

Put in enough hours, your game’s gonna blast off.

 

Your jumper’s now pure out to twenty-five feet, give or take. You’ve developed a little floater in the lane that leaves slow-footed big men flailing. But it’s your handle that sets you apart. Your quicks. The way you can get into the paint at will and finish with either hand.

 

This past season you scored more points than any other eighth grader in the county.

 

You were second in assists.

 

So what.

 

It ain’t good enough, and you know it.

 

Not if you want to be even more dominant next year, in high school.

 

That’s why your ears perk up when you overhear a couple newcomers talking about Muni Gym in Balboa Park. When you overhear the dude with love handles sitting on the stairs say to his boy, “It’s the best run in the entire city, B. I put that on everything.”

 

“You ranked ’em out?” the other guy asks.

 

“Nah, I used to ball there all the time before I tweaked my back. If you can hang with them big boys at Muni . . . shoot, you can hang with just about anybody.”

 

Shelf the extra jumpers that night.

 

Proceed instead to the local library and look up Muni Gym online. Type the address into Google Earth and you’ll discover it’s right next to the Air and Space Museum your moms took you and your sis to back in the day. And the Air and Space Museum, if your calculations are correct, isn’t but five miles from your pop’s job at the factory.

 

Wander into your cramped living room after dinner that night. Work up the guts to describe for your old man the importance of competing against the best. You’ve outgrown your local run. It’s time to put a foot in the deep end. So what if he doesn’t even know the rules of the game, if all he does is sit there silently inside the TV, working a toothpick in his teeth.

 

“So, what do you think, Pop?”

 

“About what?”

 

“Would it be cool if I went with you to work every morning? So I could play some ball down there?”

 

He’ll look at you suspiciously, then turn back to his cop show and his toothpick.

 

You’ll take this as a no and assume the fate of the most important summer of your hoop development now rests in the hands of the county bus system.

 

But you’ll be wrong.

 

A few minutes later he’ll mumble, “Better have your skinny butt out by the car by five, I’ll tell you that. Or else I’m leaving without you.”

 

He won’t even look up when he tells you this.

 

Doesn’t matter.

 

Your heart will race with excitement.

 

You’ll tear into the room you share with your sis and lay your hoop gear out on the chair by your bed like some kind of giddy schoolgirl--which is pretty much how you’ll feel.

 

 

 

There’s Only Today

 

 

Know that when your alarm starts blaring at four-thirty the next morning, you’re going to have no idea where you are or what’s happening. It’ll still be dark outside. Your sis will be snoring. When reality finally settles in, the lazy part of your brain will try and sweet-talk you back to sleep: Maybe we could, you know, skip the Muni trip today . . . go ball at the park instead. . . . There’s always tomorrow.

 

Reach into your own skull and smack this part of your brain upside the head.

 

If you let it, this part of your brain will hold you back from every dream you will ever have. Trust me.

 

Crawl out of bed, reminding yourself that your old man gets up like this every single day for work. Rain or shine. In sickness and in health.

 

Your uncles, too.

 

Respect them for this.

 

Strive to be like them.

 

During the entire thirty-minute drive south, your old man will say two sentences to you, max. Don’t take it personally. Answer his question about the gym location and how you heard about it. Buckle your seat belt when he gives you one of his patented dirty looks. Before you even hit the freeway on-ramp you’ll be done talking, but that’s okay. Shift your focus to other details of the drive. The radio news show he turns on. The smell of his steaming-hot black coffee. The scattered cars along the dark freeway, and the subtle tick of his turn signal whenever he changes lanes. By the end of summer, these seemingly insignificant details will be ingrained in your brain.

 

When he parks along the street near his factory, it’ll still be a full three hours before Muni Gym opens. “Better have your skinny butt back here by quarter to four,” he’ll say, snatching his lunch pail out of the backseat. “It’s a long walk home, I’ll tell you that.”

 

After he disappears around the bend, turn your attention to the ancient Volkswagen Bug. You’ll wonder how the heck you’re supposed to sleep inside such a tiny car,...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Crown Books for Young Readers
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2017
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 110193459X
• ISBN 13: 9781101934593
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 240
• Herausgeber: Oh Ellen
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: KreGa Onlinehandel GmbH; 4950000000000; info@krega-onlinehandel.de; ; Birkenweg 31; Brakel; 33034; Deutschland