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Lorimer Sports Stories
Pick and Roll
Jazz Smith-Mohapatra is the toughest and best player on her basketball team -- and this year she's determined to lead the team to a championship win. But in the last game of the regular season, Jazz sets an offensive move called a pick and roll. A player on the other team doesn't see it coming; she crashes into Jazz, and then onto the floor. Though it's a play that Jazz has done many times, she's never hurt anyone before. Now there's going to be a Fair Play Commission hearing to determine whether the play was legal or not. But even worse than the possibility of being suspended for the playoffs, Jazz's teammates are suddenly questioning her physical style of play and whether the team can make it all the way to the pennant without her. [Fry reading level - 3.0]
136 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2014
6 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Kelsey Blair
8 books2 followersKelsey Blair (B.A., University of British Columbia; M.A. University of Toronto; M.A. University of British Columbia; PhD Simon Fraser University) is a theatre, performance, and physical culture scholar, young adult fiction author, and community-engaged artist and activist. She recently completed her PhD in English with an en emphasis in Performance Studies from Simon Fraser University, where she completed a dissertation on cultural performance of sport. Building from this work, she is currently pursuing postdoctoral research on sport, circus, and musical theatre n the Department of English at McGill. In addition to her co-edited trade volume Basically Queer: An Intergenerational Introduction to LGBTQA2S+ Lives, published in 2017 by Peter Lang, her academic work has been published in several academic journals and edited collections including: The Canadian Theatre Review, Studies in Musical Theatre, Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, and The International Journal of Sport History.
She is also a young adult fiction author. Drawing from her tenure as a varsity women’s basketball player at the University of British Columbia and her experiences playing professional basketball in Sweden, Kelsey writes sports’ fiction for 10-13 year old girls. Her first book, Pick and Roll, was published by Lorimer in 2014 for their Sports’ Stories series and was named one of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre Best Books for Kids & Teens. Her second book, Ugly Kicks, was published in 2016, and her third book, Making the Team, was commended as one of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre Best Books for Kids & Teens. Her most recent book, Tough Call, was released in Fall 2018 and was also named as one of the anadian Children’s Book Centre Best Books for Kids & Teens.
In addition to these pursuits, Kelsey leads several scholarly, sporting, and artistic projects. Currently, she is the online curator for performance and pedagogy website, the Activist Classroom, a Director for the Centre for Spectatorship and Audience Studies Research at the University of Toronto, a Director on the Board of Directors for Basketball British Columbia, a Director for New World’s Theatre Board, a selected member of the British Columbia Basketball Official’s commission, and the women’s basketball representative for the University of British Columbia’s Alumni Council. She was also the co-lead artist for a senior’s art collective (Quirk-e), a playwright and director for several community-engaged theatre & performance projects, and the head coach of numerous girls’ and women’s basketball teams, including the Native Education College women’s team from 2010-2018.
Kelsey frequently does workshops, readings, and speaking engagements with elementary schools, high schools, and organizations such as Canada Basketball. She’s always interested in new opportunities.
You can reach her at: info@thekelseyblair.com
She is also a young adult fiction author. Drawing from her tenure as a varsity women’s basketball player at the University of British Columbia and her experiences playing professional basketball in Sweden, Kelsey writes sports’ fiction for 10-13 year old girls. Her first book, Pick and Roll, was published by Lorimer in 2014 for their Sports’ Stories series and was named one of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre Best Books for Kids & Teens. Her second book, Ugly Kicks, was published in 2016, and her third book, Making the Team, was commended as one of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre Best Books for Kids & Teens. Her most recent book, Tough Call, was released in Fall 2018 and was also named as one of the anadian Children’s Book Centre Best Books for Kids & Teens.
In addition to these pursuits, Kelsey leads several scholarly, sporting, and artistic projects. Currently, she is the online curator for performance and pedagogy website, the Activist Classroom, a Director for the Centre for Spectatorship and Audience Studies Research at the University of Toronto, a Director on the Board of Directors for Basketball British Columbia, a Director for New World’s Theatre Board, a selected member of the British Columbia Basketball Official’s commission, and the women’s basketball representative for the University of British Columbia’s Alumni Council. She was also the co-lead artist for a senior’s art collective (Quirk-e), a playwright and director for several community-engaged theatre & performance projects, and the head coach of numerous girls’ and women’s basketball teams, including the Native Education College women’s team from 2010-2018.
Kelsey frequently does workshops, readings, and speaking engagements with elementary schools, high schools, and organizations such as Canada Basketball. She’s always interested in new opportunities.
You can reach her at: info@thekelseyblair.com
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 4, 2023
Pick and Roll by Kelsey Blair is a great story for anyone who is into basketball, or for anyone who wants to read an interesting story. It is mainly about a girl named Jazz who experiences a lot of stuff from one basketball game she played. First, she set a hard screen to her defender which caused her defender to have a concussion, next mostly everyone on her team treated her weird because of it, and last she was suspended from playing. She got cleared to play again though because it was a fair screen. Overall, this book was exciting and very interesting for me and I absolutely loved it.
September 26, 2018
I love this book so far!
July 9, 2014
Title: Pick and Roll
Author: Kelsey Blair
Author Page at Lorimer: Kelsey Blair
Publisher: James Lorimer & Company
Year: September 1, 2014
Pages: 80 (e-book)
[Disclaimer: I was provided a preview copy of this via NetGalley in exchange for my fair and unbiased review. The version I read and now review was in the form of an e-book I accessed through Adobe Digital Editions on ny Nook reader. Pages numbers may not correspond exactly to other versions.]
Fry reading Level: 3.0 (according to publisher)
Reading age: Grades 4-8 (ages 10-13, again, according to the publisher).
Those who are interested in sports, especially girls basketball, will be interested in this short volume from Lorimer author Kelsey Blair. This is a middle school aged book which I think will appeal to both boys and girls even though the book focuses almost entirely on tension filled, junior high sports world of girls basketball. I suppose unless one has lived it they would never know that the world of junior high sports is so competitive, tension filled, and melodramatic. Nevertheless, that is the impression I got while reading this book. I am not suggesting that is a bad thing merely that this is the nature of the book.
The only real complaint I have about the book is that I think students from the United States who read this volume will be a little confused by the spelling of some words. For example, the words 'offense' and 'defense' are consistently spelled 'offence' and 'defence.' I'm not privy to the publisher's intentions so I cannot make any predictions, but it might be helpful if versions sold in the US had these words spelled with their American English spellings.
The story of Jazz, a junior high girls basketball player, is a fun read. It is written by a woman who herself was a basketball player and who, thus, understands basketball and the lingo and nomenclature well. Technically, the book is spot on. As far as the behavior of junior high girls, I suppose that is spot on too, but I'm from a generation that grew up reading Blubber and Otherwise Known as Shelia the Great. Blair was a little more subtle in describing this tension, and that might be a good thing. I liked that the difficulties experienced by the girls in the book were resolved relatively easily--and on the basketball court. While there was some teenage jealousy and subterfuge going on in the story, the author does a good job of writing about it in a tactful manner. In other words, it wasn't too terribly hyperbolic.
Some of the language and technical basketball lingo might need a little translation for some readers, but I think the author captures well the spirit of teenage jealousies and rivalries and has translated them into a readable story with genuine characters. Jazz is a complex character and offers many surprises throughout the story. There are times when she is likable and other times when she is difficult to figure, but I think young people reading the story will understand all to well the complexities of junior high social politics. And I think they will enjoy the story as I did.
4/5 stars
Author: Kelsey Blair
Author Page at Lorimer: Kelsey Blair
Publisher: James Lorimer & Company
Year: September 1, 2014
Pages: 80 (e-book)
[Disclaimer: I was provided a preview copy of this via NetGalley in exchange for my fair and unbiased review. The version I read and now review was in the form of an e-book I accessed through Adobe Digital Editions on ny Nook reader. Pages numbers may not correspond exactly to other versions.]
Fry reading Level: 3.0 (according to publisher)
Reading age: Grades 4-8 (ages 10-13, again, according to the publisher).
Those who are interested in sports, especially girls basketball, will be interested in this short volume from Lorimer author Kelsey Blair. This is a middle school aged book which I think will appeal to both boys and girls even though the book focuses almost entirely on tension filled, junior high sports world of girls basketball. I suppose unless one has lived it they would never know that the world of junior high sports is so competitive, tension filled, and melodramatic. Nevertheless, that is the impression I got while reading this book. I am not suggesting that is a bad thing merely that this is the nature of the book.
The only real complaint I have about the book is that I think students from the United States who read this volume will be a little confused by the spelling of some words. For example, the words 'offense' and 'defense' are consistently spelled 'offence' and 'defence.' I'm not privy to the publisher's intentions so I cannot make any predictions, but it might be helpful if versions sold in the US had these words spelled with their American English spellings.
The story of Jazz, a junior high girls basketball player, is a fun read. It is written by a woman who herself was a basketball player and who, thus, understands basketball and the lingo and nomenclature well. Technically, the book is spot on. As far as the behavior of junior high girls, I suppose that is spot on too, but I'm from a generation that grew up reading Blubber and Otherwise Known as Shelia the Great. Blair was a little more subtle in describing this tension, and that might be a good thing. I liked that the difficulties experienced by the girls in the book were resolved relatively easily--and on the basketball court. While there was some teenage jealousy and subterfuge going on in the story, the author does a good job of writing about it in a tactful manner. In other words, it wasn't too terribly hyperbolic.
Some of the language and technical basketball lingo might need a little translation for some readers, but I think the author captures well the spirit of teenage jealousies and rivalries and has translated them into a readable story with genuine characters. Jazz is a complex character and offers many surprises throughout the story. There are times when she is likable and other times when she is difficult to figure, but I think young people reading the story will understand all to well the complexities of junior high social politics. And I think they will enjoy the story as I did.
4/5 stars
November 28, 2014
Jazz enjoys playing on her school’s basketball team with Cindy, her BFF since Kindergarten, and the two have plans to share the MVP Championship trophy if their 9th grade team makes it to the playoffs. However, their relationship has started to crack in recent months as even though Jazz doesn’t like it when Cindy dictates the clothes she has to wear, she lacks the courage to stand up to Cindy, who’s the mean queen bee of their team.
Jazz learns hard lessons about friendship when her offensive pick seriously injuries an opponent and she is forced to sit on the sidelines until the Fair Play Commission rules on whether or not the screen Jazz set was fair. Even though no ruling had been made, her teammates, including Cindy, turn their backs on her and ignore her. Sitting on the bench allows Jazz to view her teammates in a new light and she’s shocked to realize how poorly Cindy treats others, especially Ella, a teammate Jazz doesn’t know well. When Ella shows some kindness to Jazz, it helps Jazz learn how to be true to herself, even when she’s facing some tough decisions--both on the basketball court and off.
Teens, especially female basketball players, will love this book that’s full of basketball action, but also of intense teen drama that holds your attention. Each book in this Sports series features an athlete from a different sport encountering realistic difficulties. Reluctant readers will like this fast-paced hi/lo story with a reading level of 3.0.
Jazz learns hard lessons about friendship when her offensive pick seriously injuries an opponent and she is forced to sit on the sidelines until the Fair Play Commission rules on whether or not the screen Jazz set was fair. Even though no ruling had been made, her teammates, including Cindy, turn their backs on her and ignore her. Sitting on the bench allows Jazz to view her teammates in a new light and she’s shocked to realize how poorly Cindy treats others, especially Ella, a teammate Jazz doesn’t know well. When Ella shows some kindness to Jazz, it helps Jazz learn how to be true to herself, even when she’s facing some tough decisions--both on the basketball court and off.
Teens, especially female basketball players, will love this book that’s full of basketball action, but also of intense teen drama that holds your attention. Each book in this Sports series features an athlete from a different sport encountering realistic difficulties. Reluctant readers will like this fast-paced hi/lo story with a reading level of 3.0.
February 14, 2015
Freshman Jazz is a star b-ball player until she accidentally injures a girl on another team. Although Jazz knew she played fair, she is suspended and has to go through an inquiry, and to make things worse, her best friend Cindy turns against her and also turns the team against her. As Jazz struggles to understand what’s going on, she makes friends with the team outcast, Ella, and her math-obsessed friend Adam. They help her try to find the joy in basketball once more, when she finds that self-doubt has made her lose her edge.
I thought this one was really good, even if predictable. The characters were colorful and believable, the plot moved along well, the world was adequately built, and I was even interested enough to read the basketball scenes! I think that says a lot for the book, personally. There are so few books published with any kind of ethnic diversity, that I think even if this isn’t the strongest book overall, it is good and deserves a place in libraries.
I thought this one was really good, even if predictable. The characters were colorful and believable, the plot moved along well, the world was adequately built, and I was even interested enough to read the basketball scenes! I think that says a lot for the book, personally. There are so few books published with any kind of ethnic diversity, that I think even if this isn’t the strongest book overall, it is good and deserves a place in libraries.
May 18, 2014
You’re one of the best players on your basketball team – maybe the best – but when an opposing player gets seriously injured running into
your screen, you feel guilty – so guilty you don’t play tough anymore; you’ve lost your self-confidence.
And you are suspended from a playoff game even though your screen is ruled fair. Then your best friend stops talking to you and she has the whole team doing the same – except another kid – the other outstanding player but everyone’s cruel to her.
You gradually begin to realize who your real friends are – but will you regain your confidence and player toughness in time for the rest of the playoff games?
If you don’t your team will go down the tubes!
Jump on this action packed, true to life, basketball on and off the court story – you won’t be able to put it down!
your screen, you feel guilty – so guilty you don’t play tough anymore; you’ve lost your self-confidence.
And you are suspended from a playoff game even though your screen is ruled fair. Then your best friend stops talking to you and she has the whole team doing the same – except another kid – the other outstanding player but everyone’s cruel to her.
You gradually begin to realize who your real friends are – but will you regain your confidence and player toughness in time for the rest of the playoff games?
If you don’t your team will go down the tubes!
Jump on this action packed, true to life, basketball on and off the court story – you won’t be able to put it down!
May 11, 2014
Thanks to James Lorimer & Company for giving me access to this arc through netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
First i have to explain that i rated this book considering it was written for young teens. As an adult the book didn't get me hooked but it's a very good read for kids 12 and over. Still i'm a basketball addict so i enjoyed the technical talk!
I think that it show great examples of how you have to stand for yourself and not let others define who you are. Tthere's some great lessons about friendship and what's real.
First i have to explain that i rated this book considering it was written for young teens. As an adult the book didn't get me hooked but it's a very good read for kids 12 and over. Still i'm a basketball addict so i enjoyed the technical talk!
I think that it show great examples of how you have to stand for yourself and not let others define who you are. Tthere's some great lessons about friendship and what's real.
April 26, 2014
I received 'Pick and Roll' through First Reads.
This story works well for young teens, defining true friendship as well as good competition on the basketball court.
Jazz is pushed out of the chosen circle so that her best friend can shine brighter, while at the same time she must overcome her fear of hurting another player during a game.
An enjoyable read, with important life lessons woven in.
This story works well for young teens, defining true friendship as well as good competition on the basketball court.
Jazz is pushed out of the chosen circle so that her best friend can shine brighter, while at the same time she must overcome her fear of hurting another player during a game.
An enjoyable read, with important life lessons woven in.
April 5, 2014
I got this book on First Reads.
I found it thoroughly engaging, captivating and at times funny :)
touches important things in life - the value of real friendship as well as trying to figure out what it actually is... great lesson on consequences of our decisions and moves... great read!
I found it thoroughly engaging, captivating and at times funny :)
touches important things in life - the value of real friendship as well as trying to figure out what it actually is... great lesson on consequences of our decisions and moves... great read!
February 9, 2015
Quite well done. Good basketball and engaging characters. This is a hi interest - low vocabulary book that makes you forget that fact.
Read
March 12, 2018This is based on a teenager girl who loves the game of basketball. She played for her high school team. I believe she was the guard and she was the best player on the team, she got them many wins and also to the championship round. When it was her last game, she was ready, she had a good mindset, she was just ready to win it all for her team. So then she gets to the gym where she is going to play and a few minutes into the game she did a play called "pick and roll". A pick and roll is when you stand next to the defender of the opposite team so the person on you time is able to be set free and when she did this the girl ran into her to hard and ended up falling. They had to check to see if it was legal or not, and she was afraid and so was her team that she was going to be suspended and not be able to get her team to get the final win. This book is a friction. To me it's an good book just because I love of basketball myself. A pick and roll is legal but you just don't see as much women NBA players doing it like men would.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews