Good If It Goes by Provost

by Gary Provost

Twelve-year-old David, juggling Shrimp League basketball and his upcoming Bar Mitzvah, strives to please Kelly, his dream-girl classmate, as well as his ailing grandfather and traditional parents

Mass Market Paperback

Reviews

[Nora · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this '80s middle grade novel was going to be about basketball with a little bit of bar mitzvah, but there wasn't that much basketball. A well-written story and quite poignant, because it turns out that the main character's grandfather is dying of a heart condition. The family decides to hold the boy's bar mitzvah four months early so the grandfather can attend, and so the boy has to learn a whole new haftorah portion and do a lot of last-minute preparing and cramming. The stressfulness and the sadness really came across.