Rimshots: Basketball Pix, Rolls, and Rhythms

Hoop Kings (Sports Royalty)

Tradition

Extraordinary

Choker

Dark Dude

A Cool Moonlight

Stitches: A Memoir

Set to the beat of an urban summer, this street-smart novel follows an L.A. teen as he hangs with friends and faces life transitions — and his first romance.

Shooting the breeze with his boys. Tightening his D on the court. Doing a color check — making sure nobody's wearing blue or red, which some Crip or Piru carrying a cut-down golf club would see as disrespect. Then back to Auntie's, hoping she isn't passed out from whiskey at the end of the day. Now that Shawn is headed for high school, he wonders if he'd be better off at the school in Mama's neighborhood, where he'd be free of Compton's hassles. But then he wouldn't be with his fellas — cracking jokes, covering each other's backs — or the fine Marisol, who's been making star appearances in his dreams. Dad says he needs to make his own decision, but what does Shawn want, freedom or friendship? With teasing, spot-on dialogue and an eye to the realities of inner-city life,  Chameleon  takes on the shifting moods of a teenager coming of age.

Discover Your Child's Next Read

Rimshots: Basketball Pix, Rolls, and Rhythms

Charles R. Smith Jr., 1999

Hoop Kings (Sports Royalty)

Charles R. Smith Jr., 2004

Tradition

Brendan Kiely, 2018

Extraordinary

Miriam Spitzer Franklin, 2015

Choker

Elizabeth Woods, 2011

Dark Dude

Oscar Hijuelos, 2008

A Cool Moonlight

Angela Johnson, 2003

Stitches: A Memoir

David Small, 2009