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Now I’ll easily admit that Long Shot by Mike Lupica is not my usual fare in reading material.  But when I was offered it for review, I accepted for a couple of reasons.  I have two boys myself who one day are going to grow up and start reading on their own.  I was merely curious to find out what the heck the prolific Mike Lupica was about and what type of sports fiction boys are reading right now.

Long Shot summary from Mike Lupica’s website:

Pedro Morales has always been content helping others look great. The epitome of a point guard, he plays the game to set up his teammates—Ned, in particular, the star forward on the receiving end of Pedro’s pinpoint passes. Pedro wants to make his father proud, and so he runs for class president. Yet doing so means going one-on-one against Ned, easily the most popular boy in school. And Pedro learns the hard way that being a good teammate doesn’t mean that others will return the favor. Now Pedro wants to win more than ever—but this time, it’s for himself.

Reading this as a mother and a thirty-something old woman, I could tolerate it.  It was okay, but I wasn’t loving it at all.  But that’s not a very fair assessment is it?  After all, I’m not the target audience here.  Mike Lupica’s books are meant for preteen boys who love sports.

I guess they’d like it just fine.  But if this is as good as it gets, I hope that something better in regards to sports fiction will come along by the time my boys are reading independently. I can’t put my finger on it exactly, the book wasn’t completely awful but it did feel as though it was hitting me over the head with it’s message.

I guess I was hoping that the book would give us something different than expected.  But instead, it’s exactly what you would expect: a story all about teamwork, which in sports fiction, I can only imagine is a recurring theme. A good thing?  If that’s what you’re looking for than that’s definitely good.  But if you’re hoping for something a little unexpected and different, than nope, not the book for you.

If you have a sports loving preteen boy in your house, and perhaps a reluctant reader at that, than I wouldn’t hesitate to see how they respond to Mike Lupica’s books.

Links of interest:  Mike Lupica website.
Genre:  Juvenile Sport Fiction, ages 9-12.
Publisher:  Philomel.  October 2, 2008.
Hardcover, 192 pages.  ISBN:  0399247173
Long Shot is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

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