Shot Clock (Shot Clock #1)

Former NBA All-Star Butler and author Reynolds (It’s the End of the World and I’m in My Bathing Suit) deliver a touching series opener about a community mourning in the aftermath of deadly police violence. Milwaukee middle schooler Tony Washington idolizes Dante, his friend and a high school basketball star who is the country’s number-two-ranked player. When Dante is murdered by a white police officer, the event causes Tony to grapple with disheartening truths about life in his underprivileged community, Oasis Springs. Hoping to follow in Dante’s footsteps, Tony tries out for Coach James’s Amateur Athletic Union team, the Sabres. Coach instead persuades Tony to become the team’s statistician, citing his analytical skills, and a tournament provides Tony an outlet to see the world beyond Oasis Springs, even as his community struggles with their grief. Butler and Reynolds compassionately explore heavy themes such as mental health, police violence, and toxic masculinity via Tony’s camaraderie with his teammates and his tense family dynamics. While predictable at times, this bustling narrative is brimming with exciting, detailed basketball scenes and moving life lessons about the things one takes for granted, the importance of community, and the will to succeed despite stacked odds. Most characters are Black. Ages 8–12. (Sept.)