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Blacktop #4
Toni
A street-smart, action-packed basketball series with action on and off the court.
The fourth title in L.J. Alonge's basketball series explodes with action as the crew takes on a new set of competitors. Shots are missed, tempers flare, and winning takes on a whole new meaning.
The fourth title in L.J. Alonge's basketball series explodes with action as the crew takes on a new set of competitors. Shots are missed, tempers flare, and winning takes on a whole new meaning.
144 pages, Library Binding
Published June 20, 2017
6 people are currently reading
205 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 9, 2018
Not as good as the previous three books. It was more about Toni's messing up in life than basketball.
November 12, 2017
Summary
Toni decides she’s not going to show up to practice until Coach Wise apologizes. She cuts herself off from her friends on the team and retreats into her drawings. Meanwhile, the child center her brother worked at closes and he’s frustrated with his new job. Can Toni pick herself up again despite all of these setbacks?
Review
I fell unexpectedly in love with this book -- first, I loved how upset I was with Toni and her slate of irrational yet somewhat justified decisions. Its lyricism also surprised me. I’m used to sports novellas like these being all story or fairly wooden dialogue, but dang, this one has real heart to it. I highlighted lines like, “The sun is fat and yellow as it rolls up a cloudless sky, a glob of paint on a clean palette.”
Issues with comprehension
There are some jumps in location and in time that come unannounced and are hard to track. There’s a chapter that takes place in the past and shows Toni’s experience in foster care. At other times, it is hard to track where Toni is or when the characters move from one location to another. I think a slightly longer book or some sharper editing with more setting and time clues could have taken care of these issues.
Recommended for
A modular series about characters on a sports team written by a black man? Hello, readalike to Jason Reynolds’ Track series!
I loved this book - I will pass along to my eighth grade readers to see if their enthusiasm matches mine.
Toni decides she’s not going to show up to practice until Coach Wise apologizes. She cuts herself off from her friends on the team and retreats into her drawings. Meanwhile, the child center her brother worked at closes and he’s frustrated with his new job. Can Toni pick herself up again despite all of these setbacks?
Review
I fell unexpectedly in love with this book -- first, I loved how upset I was with Toni and her slate of irrational yet somewhat justified decisions. Its lyricism also surprised me. I’m used to sports novellas like these being all story or fairly wooden dialogue, but dang, this one has real heart to it. I highlighted lines like, “The sun is fat and yellow as it rolls up a cloudless sky, a glob of paint on a clean palette.”
Issues with comprehension
There are some jumps in location and in time that come unannounced and are hard to track. There’s a chapter that takes place in the past and shows Toni’s experience in foster care. At other times, it is hard to track where Toni is or when the characters move from one location to another. I think a slightly longer book or some sharper editing with more setting and time clues could have taken care of these issues.
Recommended for
A modular series about characters on a sports team written by a black man? Hello, readalike to Jason Reynolds’ Track series!
I loved this book - I will pass along to my eighth grade readers to see if their enthusiasm matches mine.
March 4, 2018
Alonge, LJ Blacktop: Toni 127 pages. Grosset & Dunlap (Penguin Teen). $16. Language: G (7swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence : PG-13
Toni plays for a community basketball team, she comes from a line of foster homes until she and her brother find each other again and with his employment they are able to move in together. Toni’s temper and her lack of social skills leads to her team’s demise. She has to work it out so they can be a team again and she can learn the value of friendship.
This is the fourth in the series of Black Top Basketball books. The narrative voice is street slang that for some reason capitalizes Dumpster. It is easily understood, the reading isn’t too tricky. But it lacked logic, how did two kids get an apartment, with a lobby no less? How did they swing cell phones and wi fi? It moves quickly and for sports aficionados it could be a fun read.
EL, MS – OPTIONAL. Reviewer: Lisa Moeller; Language Arts Teacher
http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2018/...
Toni plays for a community basketball team, she comes from a line of foster homes until she and her brother find each other again and with his employment they are able to move in together. Toni’s temper and her lack of social skills leads to her team’s demise. She has to work it out so they can be a team again and she can learn the value of friendship.
This is the fourth in the series of Black Top Basketball books. The narrative voice is street slang that for some reason capitalizes Dumpster. It is easily understood, the reading isn’t too tricky. But it lacked logic, how did two kids get an apartment, with a lobby no less? How did they swing cell phones and wi fi? It moves quickly and for sports aficionados it could be a fun read.
EL, MS – OPTIONAL. Reviewer: Lisa Moeller; Language Arts Teacher
http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2018/...
February 18, 2022
book lacks suspense, I didn't find myself eager to read and find out what happens next. Like i do with all other good books. Book needs more descriptive words to make the reader really feel the emotions the characters feel.
June 6, 2017
Great read for teen sports lovers.
January 10, 2018
it was just ok
October 17, 2019
A nice short read. It was a pretty good book but I felt like it was a bit too short.
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September 14, 2023It was a really good but really short book
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews