Rez Ball

 

My Thoughts:

Tre and his family just lost his big brother Jaxon. Jaxon was the basketball star. Jaxon and his teammates were going to get to the state championship. Jaxon was the pride of the Ojibwe people. Tre was the comic book geek little brother. But after Jaxon dies, Tre is determined to use his sophomore year summer to train for basketball season and make the varsity team. 

Tre's friend Wes starts making a documentary on his basketball journey and he meets a cute gamer friend, Khiana, but the major story is about basketball, getting on the varsity team and leading the team to states. 

I enjoy the action, but I enjoyed the male friendship angle more. This story was picked up for production by Netflix so read this now. 

From the Publisher:

These days, Tre Brun is happiest when he is playing basketball on the Red Lake Reservation high school team—even though he can’t help but be constantly gut-punched with memories of his big brother, Jaxon, who died in an accident.

When Jaxon's former teammates on the varsity team offer to take Tre under their wing, he sees this as his shot to represent his Ojibwe rez all the way to their first state championship. This is the first step toward his dream of playing in the NBA, no matter how much the odds are stacked against him.

But stepping into his brother’s shoes as a star player means that Tre can’t mess up. Not on the court, not at school, and not with his new friend, gamer Khiana, who he is definitely not falling in love with.

After decades of rez teams almost making it, Tre needs to take his team to state. Because if he can live up to Jaxon's dreams, their story isn’t over yet. 

This book is published by Heartdrum, an imprint that publishes high-quality, contemporary stories about Indigenous young people in the United States and Canada.

Publication Information:

Author: Byron Graves

Publisher: Heartdrum (September 12, 2023)