Pick-Up Game: A Full Day of Full Court, (Paperback)

Publishers Weekly,Opening with an incantatory poem from Smith ("faces behind fences/ focused courtside/ on warriors being tested/ with noplace to hide"), this collection is made up of rapid-fire short stories that take place over a single day on a famed New York City streetball court-"the Cage"-from such authors as Walter Dean Myers, Sharon Flake, Rita Williams-Garcia, Robert Lipsyte, and Adam Rapp. Interwoven with additional poems and photos from Smith, the stories offer blistering moves and dialogue, complex and rewarding characters, and off-the-court background, contextualizing the game and making it clear just how vital it is to those who play. Ages 14-up. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.