TRAVEL TEAM -- Mike Lupica

Philomel Books
New York -- ©2004 -- 274pp
ISBN: 0-399-24150-7

A twelve-year-old, gifted basketball player doesn't make the local "travel team" because he's too small, even though he is unquestionably the best passer the league has ever seen. With the help of his father, a divorced, alcoholic, former-pro basketball player, they put together a team of misfits and rejects like himself to make a run for the travel team title.

I was really intrigued with the idea of this book -- short kids can play basketball and be great at it. Unfortunately the writing itself is sub-par.

The actual writing is so clumsy and poor it is almost unreadable at times. Had I turned in even a paragraph of this writing during an undergraduate writing class I would have received low grades and comments such as "Show -- don't tell!"

Unfortunately for readers, this book was published most likely because readers might be familiar with Mike Lupica's name and associate it with sports. But where was the editor? Was the writing so bad that even the editor couldn't make headway with this?

To add insult to writers and readers who know what they are doing, the publisher has done a fair amount of advertising -- more-so, I think, than the average new book.

It infuriates me when a poorly written book is so heavily promoted, and all because of a celebrity name. In truth, the book does not serve anyone well. Not the youthful reader who won't understand why they don't like the book so much. Not the publisher, who looks like they don't know a quality book. Not the writer, of whom others will not be eager to read again. It does, I suppose, serve the book seller who has nothing to lose. The publisher pays for the promoting and the seller can return the book if it doesn't sell.

Sadly, a book to avoid.