What do you think?
Rate this book
Brief Garland
Dismayed when he discovers he is assigned an all-girl basketball team, the new coach becomes increasingly committed to his players as he works with them.
318 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
2 people are currently reading
22 people want to read
About the author
Harold Keith
35 books21 followers Harold Keith lived his entire life in Oklahoma, a state that he greatly loved and which served as the setting for many of his books.
Perhaps his best known story, the historical novel "Rifles for Watie", was first released in 1957. It went on to win the 1958 John Newbery Medal and the 1964 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award.
In 1998, Harold Keith died of congestive heart failure, in Norman, Oklahoma.
Perhaps his best known story, the historical novel "Rifles for Watie", was first released in 1957. It went on to win the 1958 John Newbery Medal and the 1964 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award.
In 1998, Harold Keith died of congestive heart failure, in Norman, Oklahoma.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 2, 2020
I think I read this book in 4th or 5th grade. My sister in high school had read it and she told me how good it was. She was a very good high school basketball player in the mid 1970's in Iowa, when they still played six-on-six ball, so we could really relate to the book.
This is one of my favorite books and always will be. Keith develops the characters so well that you feel like you know these girls. And the six-on-six game, which was probably initially implemented because it was felt that girls didn't have the stamina to run the full court for an entire game, is itself an important character in the book. (I was so fired up when I heard they were going to make BG into a movie, but then they ruined it by having the girls play the modern five-on-five game. I hope someday this story will be retold in a film that is faithful to the book.)
Anyway, if you want to read a book about women's struggle to find a place in the world, read Brief Garland.
This is one of my favorite books and always will be. Keith develops the characters so well that you feel like you know these girls. And the six-on-six game, which was probably initially implemented because it was felt that girls didn't have the stamina to run the full court for an entire game, is itself an important character in the book. (I was so fired up when I heard they were going to make BG into a movie, but then they ruined it by having the girls play the modern five-on-five game. I hope someday this story will be retold in a film that is faithful to the book.)
Anyway, if you want to read a book about women's struggle to find a place in the world, read Brief Garland.
May 2, 2016
This is the first book I ever read. It was the book that began a life long love of reading.
January 12, 2011
If you like reading about girls' sports, read this book about a girls basketball team from the '60's. It's a true story about a coach who only wanted to coach boys but how he ended up taking this girls team to state and sticking with them for years. The title comes from a poem called "To an Athlete Dying Young" by A.E. Housman and reminds us that the years when you can play competitive sports is brief. This book was made into a movie starring Jeffrey Donovan called "Believe in Me." Good show. This book reminds me of a book called "In These Girls Heart is a Muscle" which I also recommend.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews