Well, this certainly was interesting. Molly’s mother has recently passed away from cancer and Molly is in the care of one of her mother’s oldest friends. But Molly dreams of a relationship with the father she has never known, who just happens to be the star point-guard of the Boston Celtics and a recent league MVP. Of course, he doesn’t know about Molly so it’s up to her to convince him that he wants his long lost child in his life. And this is something that won’t be easy. Despite the fact that Molly evidently displays an uncanny physical resemblance to her dad and mad basketball skills despite never having played or practice, her father is very hesitant to accept her as his own. Of course, much drama ensues.
There’s an interesting conflict in this book between the limited amount of actual basketball and the amount of basketball knowledge you’d have to have to really understand the book. If you like basketball, you’re going to wish the book had more of it. And if you don’t, there’s going to be a lot you don’t get.
I also am interested to hear the thoughts of others who have read this regarding some of the choices Lupica made regarding the premise. It is a fact that the NBA is predominantly African-American, especially when it comes to its stars. And yet, while never explicitly stated, Molly and her father, Josh Cameron, seem to be white (I say this because some other characters are identified by race). So did Lupica make this choice because he didn’t want to create a scenario that played into stereotypes of African-American players having children they don’t know about with women they’re not married to? I would almost give him some credit for that, if it weren’t for a major plot point. The major plot point being that Josh’s agent is determined to remove Molly from Josh’s life because he’s worried about the effect her existence will have on Josh’s reputation. Because he’s so different from the other players. And not like that. Which then raises the question of why he would be held to a different, higher standard than other players in the league. Or the question of exactly when basketball fans (and I ask this as an actual basketball fan myself) cared about whether players had illegitimate children who could potentially cost them deals with Nike. Really? Yes, Tiger Woods is an athlete (although golf may well be different than basketball) that took a major fall based on personal indiscretions, but I don’t exactly recall LeBron James not being offered endorsements because he had children with a woman who was his girlfriend, not his wife. So is it wrong for Josh to do this because he’s white? And that’s beneath him? I’m just not sure I like what I’m picking up.
I think this would be best enjoyed by students in Grades 4 and up. I wasn’t bored by it despite my issues, so I think it has pretty good staying power for the middle and tween years. The content could be okay for advanced third grade readers depending on your own family values or standards.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – Molly has to tell her father that he is her father. Her mother never told him. He doesn’t believe her. Kimmy has a crush on a professional basketball player. Josh Cameron has an actress girlfriend. There’s talk about how women shakedown professional athletes by showing up with a kid and claiming the athlete was the father. Sam’s mother always brought money with her on a date in case she got mad and wanted to go home. The agent is really worried about how it will look that Josh is unmarried with a kid. Clearly he has never been exposed to the world of professional sports. Molly holds hands with a boy.
Profanity – “stupid,” “bloody,” “jerk,” “heck,” “shut up,” “God,” “darn,”
Death, Violence and Gore – Molly’s mom died of cancer. This information is relayed within the first few pages of the book.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – None.
Mad money!! My grandmother always made sure I had mad money when I went out. I still think of it that way today…