If anyone knows me, they know that sports are so NOT me. I enjoy watching football and some baseball, but that's it. I know nothing about basketball, which is probably why I never really wanted to read Travel Team. Several of my students keep recommending Travel Team to read, so I decided to bite the bullet and read it.
Danny is the son of a former NBA player and loves basketball. He spends hours practicing in front of his driveway hoop in hopes of making the seventh grade travel team. The same seventh grade travel team that made his father a star. His only problem is that he's short -- the shortest player in his grade. When he fails to make the travel team, Danny and his father organize their own travel team, made up of players that weren't selected for the original team. Through this endeavor, Danny rebuilds a relationship with his father, who has been absent for much of his childhood.
As I said, I don't know about basketball, so I was worried about understanding the descriptions of the basketball play. Thankfully, it was descriptive so that even a novice like me could visualize the action. I especially liked how the story about Danny's relationship with his father was built around or through the basketball team story. I think those wanting to reading sports books will devour this one (and probably all of Lupica's other books), but this story will also interest many others who, like me, aren't that big into sports. It's a solid B book for me, enjoyable!
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