Danger Zone

by David Klass

When he joins a predominantly black "Teen Dream Team" that will be representing the United States in an international basketball tournament in Rome, Jimmy Doyle makes some unexpected discoveries about prejudice, racism, and politics. In this award-winning novel, a young basketball star confronts a nightmare of racism in "one of the most thrilling climaxes in recent sports writing."

Genres: Sports, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Cultural

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1996

About the author

David Klass is the author of many young adult novels, including You Don’t Know Me, Dark Angel, and Firestorm (The Caretaker Trilogy). He is also a Hollywood screenwriter, having written more than twenty-five action screenplays, including Kiss the Girls, starring Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd, Walking Tall, starring The Rock, and Desperate Measures, starring Michael Keaton and Andy Garcia. Klass grew up in a family that loved literature and theater—his parents were both college professors and writers—but he was a reluctant reader, preferring sports to books. But he started loving the adventure stories his parents would bring home from the library—particularly Jack London, Robert Louis Stevenson and Alexandre Dumas. After his sister twice won a story contest in Seventeen magazine, Klass decided he would win it too, and when he was a senior in high school, he did, publishing his first story, “Ringtoss,” in the magazine. He studied at Yale University, where he won the Veech Award for Best Imaginative Writing. He taught English in Japan, and wrote his first novel, The Atami Dragons, about that experience. He now lives in New York with his wife and two children.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidk...

Reviews

[Terryon Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book, Danger Zone, the main character is Jimmy Doyle. He is the current basketball star in his hometown of Granham, Minnesota.Jimmy is a pretty regular white 17-year-old who has a special talent in basketball. Jimmy has always been the star in his town but when he has the opportunity to play on the USA Teen team he doesn't really accept the idea. In Granham Jimmy has his mom and two little sisters. His mom is a tough lady who has been independent since her husband died. She isn't really descibed but from the text you could tell that Jimmy really admires her bravery. The two sisters are mentioned only a couple of times in the book and they seem like typical annoying little siblings. Jimmy's girlfriend Janey is the most descibed female in the text. She isn't an extraordinary character but she means the world to Jimmy. Most of the characters in this book are really typical and there's nothing too wild or crazy about them. This makes the book extremely boring when you aren't reading about Jimmy playing basketball. Once Jimmy figures out that playing on the USA Teen team would be exciting for him the story really begins. The World 17-and-under tournament would be held across seas, in Italy. Jimmy decides to go and he soon meets the rest of his team in California. Althogh Jimmy is a shooting guard star, he doesn't feel comfortable in his ability to play with teenagers with similar amount of skill and finesse as himself. This is a major factor in the rest of the story as many more problems will affect the team. Within hours of meeting his full team, Jimmy makes an enemy out of Augustus LeMay. LeMay is the star point guard in America and he is another normal character, except his opinion on everything is affected by race. The story is reflected off of these two characters since they are the stars of the team. When the team finally gets to Italy the basketball starts. Over seas in Italy there aren't any American fans there to suport the team. Instead there are only people who hate America and african-americans. Racism is the main conflict in the story which affects Jimmy the most. When the author isn't descibing a basketball game, he is emphasizing the point of racism. This makes the book pretty boring at times. There is a terrorist group in Italy with links to the Nazis that threaten to kill one of the USA teenagers. But the team is tough and they decide to stay and play altough a few members do decide to leave. Jimmy is now terrified and his basketball play is affected greatly. Now the best part in the book is the basketball. David Klass(Author) does an excellent job in describing the actual games. He paints a picture in your head of every basket scored, every rebound acquired, and the feeling of every player. This is the only thing that I wanted more of. Whenever a basketball scene begin I knew that something visually exciting was going to happen. But when those scenes ended, it was back to the boring dialogue. There were some other pretty exciting moments but nothing could match the basketball games. At the end of the book it was pretty typical how any kind book would end, Jimmy and his team of course prevail. But Jimmy pays a price when the terrorist group who hates african-americans storms the court. A couple pages later the book is over, which angered me because I wanted to know what became of Jimmy. All in all this was an okay book but it was very typical and predictable. It was exciting only for basketball and the author did a great job with it. I lost interest in this book because a majority of the time was not spent on basketball games. I would give this book three stars.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Danger Zone
By David Klass
Review by John

In the book Danger Zone, author David Klass opens our eyes to the racism still taking place around the world through a brilliantly crafted fiction on a sports team. We follow 16 year old Jimmy as he travels around the world, learning of the struggles that some of his fellow teammates deal with.
Jimmy has had a tough childhood. His mother runs a small convenient store, and the single mother struggles to support her three children after her husband dies. Because of this, Jimmy, the young superstar out of Minnesota, almost chooses to stay home so that he could stay to help his mother at the store. Eventually he is convinced to go after his girlfriend offers to help out at the store.
When the high school student reaches his first destination of Los Angeles, he meets his teammates and immediately a tension is formed with the California superstar Agustus. Augustus is upset with Jimmy because rumors were floating around that the spot had been taken from his cousin. Jimmy attempts to form a better relationship but Augustus stays stubborn, jealous of the “perfect” life of his teammate. Jimmy seeking for pity for his poor life finally set Augustus over the edge. He decided to give Jimmy a tour of his childhood, where children were stuck in gangs in childhood, and people are shot on the daily. This trip gave him the realization that there is more to life than his little town of Granham.
As his team moves further into the international tourney, we start to see fans of other teams that are upset that certain nationalities are playing in the tournament. The team is berated by racist remarks from these horrible people. In the final of this tournament, all of this tension results in an event that changes Jimmy’s life forever.
Overall, this book was an amazing read. The author did an amazing job developing the backstories of his characters in a way that let you know exactly the situation that the players came from. The writing used such great detail that I felt as if I was out on the court taking buzzer beating shots. I would recommend this book to any sports lovers looking for an interesting read.

[Don Ingram · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would highly recommend this book to a variety of readers even if you're not into sports books because of its informative information among discrimination, controversy, problem solving, and how to cope with hard challenges in life.

This book "Danger Zone" revolves around a small town basketball player who faces discrimination, and a handful of controversy throughout the book. Jimmy Doyle is a white stocky basketball player about 5'10 ,the main character, who attends and plays for a small school in Graham, Minnesota. He's considered the best high school basketball player currently in Minnesota, but doesn't receive that much media attention. He has received offers from D1 colleges and in the beginning of the book, he receives a invitation to play for Team America in a international tournament full of numerous countries in Europe. The tournament consist of teens in high school mainly and seems like a great opportunity for Jimmy to grasp, but Jimmy reluctantly battles within himself to accept the offer. His mother runs a local hardware store where Jimmy helps out at quite often and worries about leaving her by herself, but she reassures him and he accepts the offer.

Jimmy flies out to California to practice with his teammates and get to know them before they leave to overseas. He flew out their along with his coaches and when he got there, he faced a huge magnitude of discrimination. His teammates thought less of him sense they just thought he was a stereotypical rich white boy who couldn't relate to them and didn't come up in the world as they did. He had a more bigger issue with the star guard of the team, Augustus , who didn't like Jimmy because he compared his struggles to that of Augustus who grew up in Compton and lived a rough childhood. He knew Jimmy grew up in middle class and had problems at home, but Jimmy called them basically one in the same and since both their fathers had died, Jimmy acknowledged that they grew up different and Augustus had a rough life too. Augustus still didn't like Jimmy because he compared them as having the same struggle and Augustus didn't hate him for that, but never seen Jimmy as his friend.

Jimmy eventually befriended everyone on the team except for Augustus and they went on to play in the European tournament hosted in Rome. They faced many controversial moments in Rome being American and being looked differently upon.

As I said before, this book is a great book and I highly recommend that you read it if you're into sports, or if you just want to see the other side of the tracks on racism or other discriminations that occur in the world. The only reason that I could not see someone reading the book is if someone isn't very fond of sports or can't see themselves reading a informing book with good information and representation.

[Muhammed Moulid · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is called Danger zone by David Klass the book is about a boy from a small city in Minnesota who has huge basketball dreams but lives in a small city so cannot get much recognition. One day though scouts come to one of his games and he puts on an out of this world performance which got the attention of the scouts. They offered him a spot in the USA men's team for a tournament in Italy which he at first declines because he does not wanna leave his single mother alone but after some convincing he was on a plane going down to California to meet his teammates then they go to Italy and play the tournament.

Some things I liked about this book was how humble the main character Jimmy is because his dad passed away when he was a kid and now his mom works all day at the store to feed the family and Jimmy often goes to help his mom at work. Another thing I liked was the difference of characters in this book. All the characters have different backgrounds which is unique because usually a book takes places in a certain location with certain people from the same place, But the characters in this book all come from different states across the country. And overall the story had me wanting to read more and had enjoyable bits of humor in it.

I wish it ended with a cliffhanger because the story was super good it deserves a part two. But I disliked how it was more of a fast paced book and got a bit repetitive as the days went by. But the story focused on themes I found interesting like basketball and being a good family member.

I would recommend this book to younger readers and people who are athletes because it's a pretty good book for both readers and shows a story about an athlete who lives in a city that has a low chance of becoming a pro basketball player to a world star at young age which shows the athlete to never give up and believe in their dreams.

I rate this book a 4 out of 5.

[Marcus Lai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Danger Zone by David Klass is a book on a high school basketball player-Jimmy Doyle- and his short term basketball career. He was chosen as a shooter for The National Teens Championship to represent America. Thorough the story, the book vividly described every single detail on the court which hooked me up. I found myself scanning through the pages and was eager for more action. The book also mentioned some unknown side of America(some say this is the message of the story) and involved racism. But over all, this book is a really well written basketball journey that made me excited and hot-blooded.

[Aidan Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would recommend trying this book to anyone who is interested in sports/basketball books. I give it three stars. I rated this book three stars because it is not outstanding, but the plot was interesting enough for me to be interested throughout most of the book. I liked how the main character was high school age, which makes it relatable since I am a freshman. I also like how the vocab was high school level. It was easy to read, but had some difficult words here and there. The main character was faced with many difficult situations. I liked that, because it made the plot more interesting.

[Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that this book was okay. I might be biased, because I love basketball, but the main plot was very intriguing. It dealt with some... myth-like items, which gave the book more personality. It was a very entertaining read, and overall, I liked it.

[Austin Youngblood · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE THIS BOOk

[Bridget Guetta · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was one of my favorites as a kid, so I wanted to reread it from an adult perspective. I really enjoyed it and appreciated how the book went into racial inequality.

[Jalie Wars · Rating 4 out of 5]

my favorite book thru high school, read 10+ times. i don’t love it as much now but it’s a nice shallow dive into racism through the eyes of a midwestern basketball player.

[Mason Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did end up finishing the book because it did not interest me.

[Adrian Arellano · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am nearly 30 years old and this book remains one of my all-time favorites despite first reading it at 13. I wish it were a Netflix show honestly

[Francisco Escamilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever read a book that is about a person who has to fit in a basketball team with more experienced players? If you have and you liked it, then Danger Zone is a book you should read. The genre of this book is realistic fiction. I think this is the best sports book I have ever read
The setting is in a hotel in Rome, in the present. It is important because that is where most of the players start getting used to playing with each other. James Doyle wanted to keep playing in the 17 years and younger USA basketball team, but the threat made him and his teammates become worried, everywhere they went. The threat was made against them because of their race. So, some players from the team went back to the U.S. and the rest stayed. Then, the players that stayed kept playing in the tournament.The type of conflict is person vs. society because James Doyle has to go through the threat that was made against him and teammates, because of their race.
My favorite part was when Doyle kept making baskets and scored the total of 43 points in the last half of the last game he had played with his team he had before. This was my favorite part because I have never seen or heard of someone scoring 43 points in the second half of a basketball game. I understood why the author made the book so that Doyle was the only good player compared to his other teammates, and then he was the only player who didn't play very good with the USA team. If the author hadn't done that, then it wouldn't of have shown that Doyle was a very good basketball player.
I thought the ending of the book was very good because I hadn't expected that to happen. I wish that it didn't happen because he might not be able to play basketball anymore, but if it hadn't happened then the end wouldn't of have been surprising.
I would rate this book five out five stars because I liked how the author made it, so that Doyle could overcome threat. I would recommend this book to people who like reading about basketball and overcoming obstacles. I think this is the best sports book i have ever read.

[Trenton H]

The Danger Zone is about a 17 year old international basketball player named Jim Doyle. He lives in Granham, Minnesota, but this year he doesn't want to play for the basketball team. Because his family is having finacle problems and decides to help his mom at the store that she owns. But his mom tells him he doesn't need to help she could do int on her own and he should join the team as they get ready for the big basketball tournament. So he joins the team, but the team had a lot of obstacles and characters that were really bothering them. Like they where getting terrorist threats. But they got threw that and made it to the tournament finals and the clock was running out and Jim had the ball and made the game winning shot. Page 223 "I got back to my feet and took a step toward them, my arms raised in victory, and just at that moment, a serious-looking little man in a dark suit broke through the police line and ran out onto the court... The policeman hit the little man's shooting arm. There was a red flash and a single popping sound then the policeman tackled the little terrorist... Then I felt myself begin to fall over on my right side, and I realized something was really wrong." But then they realized that some difference can't matched together.
I think that the beginning could of been better but I think that the ending really made sense for the book. It just really fit in my opinion. This book was pretty good overall though.
Source:
Jake Irgang
Dimari Winston

[Jake Irgang · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. Jimmy Doyle was chosen as a member of a ten-man teen basketball team for an international competition, he was flattered. However, he knew he couldn't go away for the summer, as his help was needed in running the family hardware store. His mother, though, convinces Jimmy to use his athletic talents, and he joined the team as they prepare for the tournament. Jimmy soon learned that he must earn the respect of his teammates, especially Augustus LeMay. As the game progressed, despite the fact that Jimmy and Augustus discover they have much in common, each realizes there are some differences, which cannot be bridged.
2. I Enjoyed the basketball scenes. At times the narrative dragged, but this was an intriguing story. Overall, it was a good book.
3. “James Giamcomo Doyle at seventeen. Nothing special in any other way but basketball. B student. Can’t dance. Can’t sing. Not bad looking but no Brad Pitt. Only one talent. A single god given talent (Klass, 215). Jimmy was chosen to play in an international youth basketball tournament in Italy. He is one of ten kids out of the whole USA to play on the team.
4. In class we talked about showing not telling and the author used a lot of detail when writing about the basketball scenes.
5. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes sports and to people who like surprise endings.

[Dimari Winston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book because i thought it might be an interesting read due to the fact that i enjoy basketball,And I couldnt have been more right. The author David Klass portrays the life of a highschool basketball player from minesota (Jimmy Doyle) Living in a world full of prejudice and racism. Because of his talent for the game Jimmy is recruited to play for Team USA in a tournament held in Rome. Along the way to the tournament Jimmy and his fellow teammates run into many obstacles and troublesome characters. Including Bothersome Papparazzi and even life threatening situations and people such as, gang members and even terrorist threats. I really enjoyed this book because of its suspense, overall intresting subject and the authors Amazing portrayal of life in a time with so many problems. I recommend this book.

[Micah G-l · Rating 4 out of 5]

Danger Zone by David Klass is one of the best sports books I have ever read. The reasoning for this is because from the moment you look on the page you cannot look up. It describes the idea of getting in a sort of a trance in basketball so much that you have to try to miss. Every shot you take goes in as some would say "feeling hot". The story goes into the life of a white boy in a small town with a not so great family/money situation. Bu that all goes away on the court as he enters his "danger zone". He gets an incredible opportunity to represent his country which he accepts. Although, given this amazing chance to prove himself, he and his team face some heavy challenges on the way, which go into way more depth then just a game of basketball. This story is one of my favorites and is highly recommended.

[Walter Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a young man(JIMMY DOYLE)that is the star of his small town high school team.He is selected to be apart of a teen basketball team to represent the United States. Throughout the book he thinks that he is no a good enough to play on this team that is predominately black.In the book jimmy is faced with lots of obstacles discrimination, racism, and his self-confidence. The theme of this book is to overcome adversity and to believe in yourself. I can connect to this book because i play for a football team and i know how important it is to work as team. I also know how it feels to think that you aren't good enough.Although in my case i didn't have to overcome the racism.I liked it because it hit a issue that I and lot of other people have to deal with .

[Patrick Birmingham]

That was a really cool book I read before I started high school by the time we moved to our new house three summers ago. I enjoyed how it blends between basketball and action. Every part of the book was easy for me to lay attention on the points of sports, and how two characters, in which one of them got furious for taking his cousin's place in a basketball team, although he felt flattered about the international tournament but asked to run the hardware store for the family. He and his team showed their athletic talents, according to his mother, and earned the respect from his companions, and seek differences which could not be bridged. Still it was a powerful classic in my reading experience and a very good one, sharing all sports.

[Hudson Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Danger Zone by David Klass was an amazing book, and one of my favorite sports books I have ever read. It is very well-written, and I liked the mix of basketball and a mystery.
Danger Zone is about high school basketball player Jimmy Doyle. When he is offered a spot on a team consisting of the best high school players in Amrica, he isn't sure what to expect. The team's star player is not fond of Jimmy and soon some of the fans in the stands at the international tournament in Italy are trying to make Team USA's next game their last.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes basketball and mysteries. It was very suspenseful and left me wanting to read more. Overall, it was a great book.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jimmy is a basketball player from Granham, MN. His father is dead and Jimmy tries to help his mother carry the load at the hardware store as well as with his younger sisters. When two coaches ask him to be a part of a Junior National Team that will play in Europe, his first response is "No". But does he really feel an obligation to his mother or is it fear that holds him back? When he does go, it's a whole new world he discovers: from the good and bad side of Los Angeles to a teammate who resents Jimmy's presence on the team. But they make it to Europe to a warm reception. However, when neo-nazis antagonize some of the players during a second round game, a fight breaks out and soon death threats are coming in.

[Cookie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the only book that I had yet to read on the 10th grade reading list - I would've read it sooner, except it was very difficult to find a copy of it! Finally, my school librarian was able to inter-library loan it for me. That being said, I'm happy I went through the trouble of getting the book. It's a glimpse into racism outside of the US - a glimpse that I have not really noticed in Europe. I'm not sure if I've just been naive while traveling, but I've been lucky enough not to have noticed any overt racism like I've seen in the US. Unfortunately, the same was not true for the main character in Danger Zone. Interesting and quick read.

[Amanda Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jimmy Doyle joins a predominately black "Teen Dream Team" that represents the United States and travels with them to a tournament in Rome. Here Jimmy becomes faced with numerous showing of discrimination, prejudice, and racisim. This book demonstrates great examples toward working with a team. Students who are interested in sports will relate best with this book but overall it helps draw the readers attention toward teamwork, leadership, and motivation. It is important for business students to understand the difference between a leader and a motivator.

[Kenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book helped me make better decisions because doyle turned down the scouts that wanted him to play for the Olympic team. This told me to never take things for granted especially if you get offered something. Doyle lived in Minnesota were most of the time its cold so he was always in the gym working on his game. He was always in the zone putting up big numbers, i did this a couple of times when i used to play. It feels good to be the man that is why i chose this book it instantly caught my eye.

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

The library's teen book club read this and only one of the teens was able to get all the way through it. The writing is awkward to say the least. The book deals with racial tensions in a basketball team, but takes a long time to even get to that point. The main character Jimmy is extremely flat, and so are all the women in the book.

[Austin Pemberton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This phenomenal book by David Klass is very suspenseful because you don't know what is going to happen next. Johnny (main character) has two lives in this story. A life on the court, and a life of the court. I believe the author is trying to get a message across, and that message is when you set aside your differences, and work on the similarities you can do great things.

[Carl De · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book, Danger Zone, was a very good book in my opinion. It had a lot of intensity in it and kept me wanting to read more and more. In this book, there are a lot of twists and turns in this book that was not expected. The storyline is very good and explains the conflict of the story very thoroughly. I can relate to this book because I play basketball and can sometimes "get in the zone."

[Saigeetha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Klass makes no excuse for racism, does not subordinate the issue of racism to "white feelings" in any way. Jimmy learns this through his journey abroad as a basketball player on a youth team representing the United States, and on an excursion through South Central.

It was satisfying, exciting, and quick -- plus Klass did an excellent job with all the game scenes.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book explains how fame isn't always good. The author, David Klass uses the character Snowman to show how fame isn't always good. Papparzaies exposed Snowman's background information and then it led to a terriost threat against the USA team.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this as a 6th grader and loved it. I can still remember rediculous details about this book, which will haunt my dreams forever...