June 24, 2019
In this graphic novel adaptation of Alexander’s 2015 Newbery-winning novel, Anyabwile’s clean lines, athletic characters, and free-form layouts capture the fluid poetry of basketball and the helplessness and confusion of early adolescence. Middle school basketball star Josh “Filthy McNasty” Bell navigates sibling rivalry with his twin brother, JB, on and off the court. The two are neither clones nor opposites; they share plenty, but Josh tends to brood while JB runs cool. Josh’s jealousy over JB’s first girlfriend, Alexis, eventually takes a backseat to their father Chuck’s escalating health problems. A former Euroleague champion sidelined by a knee injury, Chuck has always been averse to medical treatment, provoking a family crisis. Alexander’s complex, affectionate family portrait is augmented by Anyabwile’s dynamic characterizations; when the boys’ father gets in a ref’s face and their mother pulls him back, each character’s pain is palpable on the page. With confident strokes and choice details—likenesses of rappers attending “five reasons I have locks,” movement-filled moments on the court, and a close-up on a saltshaker alongside an explanation of hypertension—the graphic version brings out the best in the original, as any good teammate should. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 10–12.

July 1, 2019
Grades 5-8 This adaptation of Alexander's Newbery-winning novel in verse brings each character and event to life through Anyabwile's dynamic line work and portions of Alexander's beautiful poetry. The artwork, in a palette of black, white, gray, and orange, evokes the imagery of the basketball, ensuring that readers feel Josh Bell's experiences come to life. Josh and his brother, Jordan, sons of a basketball legend, rule the court, especially when they cooperate. But when the two find themselves growing further apart, as hormones increase and a girl enters the picture, life on and off the court falls into chaos. Although larger portions of the text in this adaptation exist in prose form, the poetry of the novel still exists at various stages to bring readers back to Alexander's original lively style. An energetic and lively re-envisioning, this transformation of the original text into a combination of visuals, poetry, and changing font styles will be sure to engage young readers who are both familiar and unfamiliar with Alexander's original work.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2019
This graphic-novel adaption of Alexander's Newbery Medal-winning verse novel, about African American twins and middle-school b-ballers Josh and JB Bell, retains all the on-court drama, swaggering narrative voice, and poignant emotional pitches of the original. The basketball action comes alive in the angular, motion-filled art, in shades of black, white, and (aptly) orange; the art also captures the story's more tender social interactions, moments of familial intimacy, and later scenes of heartbreak surrounding the boys' father's death.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

November 1, 2019
Alexander's Newbery Medal-winning verse novel of the same name (rev. 5/14), about African American twins and middle-school b-ballers Josh and JB Bell, is an ideal choice for graphic-novel adaptation, with its on-court action, swaggering narrative voice, and poignant emotional pitches. Anyabwile's (of Alexander's Rebound, rev. 7/18, and the graphic novel version of Walter Dean Myers's Monster) angular, comics-style illustrations in shades of black and white-and, appropriately for a basketball story, orange-dynamically share space on the pages with the hand-lettered-looking text. Every mid-game scuffle, fast break, and "KERPLUNK / TO THE FLOOR. FOUL" comes alive in the motion-filled art. Yet the same goes for the story's more tender social interactions ("and just like that JB and the new girl are sipping sweet tea together"), moments of familial intimacy, and later scenes of heartbreak surrounding the boys' father. The original novel's success mingling accessible poetry with basketball, middle-school dynamics, and Black boyhood is reinforced in Anyabwile's impressive visual interpretation. Katrina Hedeen

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from January 20, 2014
Josh Bell, known on and off the court by the nickname Filthy McNasty, doesn’t lack self-confidence, but neither does he lack the skills to back up his own mental in-game commentary: “I rise like a Learjet—/ seventh-graders aren’t supposed to dunk./ But guess what?/ I snatch the ball out of the air and/ SLAM!/ YAM! IN YOUR MUG!” Josh is sure that he and his twin brother, JB, are going pro, following in the footsteps of their father, who played professional ball in Europe. But Alexander (He Said, She Said) drops hints that Josh’s trajectory may be headed back toward Earth: his relationship with JB is strained by a new girl at school, and the boys’ father health is in increasingly shaky territory. The poems dodge and weave with the speed of a point guard driving for the basket, mixing basketball action with vocabulary-themed poems, newspaper clippings, and Josh’s sincere first-person accounts that swing from moments of swagger-worthy triumph to profound pain. This verse novel delivers a real emotional punch before the final buzzer. Ages 9–12. Agent: East West Literary Agency.