A dozen poems play homage to the same number of basketball stars.

This is the third book in a collection of poems, centered around basketball. It's a short collection with only twelve poems, one on each two-page spread. There's a table of contents in the beginning, so that readers can immediately locate a poem about a specific player. At the end of the book, the author explains the inspiration behind each poem and player briefly.

This book makes a solid impression already from the cover on. It holds a basketball-textured siding and keeps the rest simple but clear and eye-pleasing. The illustrations inside follow the same concept, in so far that the highlighted player is clear (black and white photo with colored uniform) while the background is extremely simple and unimportant. The poem is written in larger, bold font with the title huge and bold, and the player's name underneath and obvious. Some poems are short, others longer, but all are easy to read and flow with a similar tick as a real-life game.

The author has chosen twelve, well-known players from the NBA, taken their strengths or known highlights, and let the creative juices flow in a way, which matches the excitement of playing the game. The phrases are short, clip, and spot-on. Some poems are simply a lot of fun, while others take a bit more word play and depth. I'm not sure readers of the age group will grasp everything, especially in one or two poems, but for the most part, they come over very age appropriate. If nothing else, there's a little to learn about most of the players, and that does make it interesting.
I received a complimentary copy and loved how this had the same rhythm as playing a game. ( )

I absolutely fell in luv with this book. I love the poetry of it. It has very good players and tells about them perfectly. I definitely recommend this book to all. ( )

I absolutely loved this book. It has great Basketball players and is spot-on describing them as well as their talent in the game. The poetry is amazing and was a very few fun and exciting read. I definitely recommend to all sports lovers. ( )

3.5 stars. I received this book as an early reviewer. I did enjoy it, and liked the majority of poems. A few I found too short or not personal enough to the player but some were perfect like Steph Curry’s and Luka Dončič’s. Because of this, I also learned a bit about each of the players. My favorite part were the notes at the end. It was interesting to see what led the author to write the verses that he did. I think mid grade students will enjoy this book. ( )

These basketball player poems are mostly good, but I don't know that they will all reach the intended audience. Young children interested in sports might not get the gods and goddesses references in the Giannis Antetokounmpo poem. Readers also might struggle with all the royalty references in LeBron's poem and the poem did not reflect LeBron's amazing work ethic. The poem about Steph Curry was perfect. It truly described how he plays. "Slippery Steph with the ball going left, with the skip, with the slip, with the shimmy, with the dip..." was a vivid poem that truly represents the player. All the poems did not fit the players the way this one did. ( )