Boxed Out: A Choose Your Path Basketball Book (Choose to Win) - Softcover

Bolt Simons, Lisa M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1960084062 ISBN 13: 9781960084064

Publisher: Lake 7 Creative, 2023

Synopsis

Become a basketball star in this interactive adventure. Make the right choices, upgrade your skills, and win the game!

Moving to a new town isn’t easy, especially when you’re in high school. But at least you have basketball. It’s a great way to keep busy and to make new friends—or so you think. Not everyone in this small town is eager to welcome you. No matter how hard you practice, no matter how well you play, you feel like an outsider.

You’re the main character in this interactive sports adventure that’s two stories in one! Play as Isiah, and try to earn your way into the starting lineup. It won’t be possible unless you convince the coach and his star player—his son—the importance of teamwork. Then become Imani, and see if you can overcome bullying by a few of your teammates. You’ll need to win them over to have a shot at winning the big game.

You may have read sports books before, but you’ve never read one like Boxed Out by Lisa M. Bolt Simons. It’s a game within a game. Here’s how it works:

• Become the main character. Make choices that affect what happens.
• Collect points along the way to upgrade your skills.
• Utilize your upgrades to win the game at story’s end!

Interactive books for kids are more popular than ever. Create your own adventure with the Choose to Win book series for boys and girls. You’re the main character. You make the choices. Will you find your way to a championship finish?

About this title

About the Author

Lisa M. Bolt Simons has written 70 nonfiction and fiction children’s books—including five middle-grade Choose Your Path novels—and an adult history book. She has twice received an honorable mention for the McKnight Artist Fellowship for Writers in Children’s Literature. She has also received three Minnesota State Arts Board grants, a MNSCBWI Writing Mentorship, a Shabo Award for Children’s Picture Book Writers, and an artist grant from the Southwest Minnesota Arts and Humanities Council.

Lisa is a proud and slightly jealous mom to her math- and science-minded adult twins, Jeri and Anthony. Originally from Colorado, she lives in a Minnesota town (population: 140ish) with her husband, who also loves to read.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

You are Imani Walker. You started dunking small foam balls into hoops when you were a toddler. Then you started competing against your brother, Isiah, older by a year. That’s probably why you’ve grown into such a good basketball player. You’re also tall for your age, 5'10", which helps. This is what fills you with courage as you anticipate basketball practice for the first time at your new school. Your dad moved you and Isiah to Nibi just in time for the season. So you’re able to start practice the same day as everyone else.

Dad drops you and Isiah off at school. Your classes are pretty typical: science, English, social studies, math, Spanish, and metals—with lunch in the middle. In a town this small, you know that everyone you see, all day long, knows that you’re the new girl. It’s awkward, but you keep your mind on basketball, and that helps the day go by quickly.

At practice, you spot your teammates on the bleachers talking. You start toward them, but then a tall woman comes out of the locker room. She appears to be in her twenties, with blond hair that’s partially up in braids. Coach Kaye Harman greets you, as the other players filter onto the court.

“Hi, Imani, welcome to Nibi, and welcome to our team: the Rams.” She smiles. “What position do you play?”

“Center.”

“That’s perfect. Our starter from last year, Melany Haddock, sadly left us for Chicago.”

You notice the buzzing noise of your teammates whispering behind you. It slowly grows louder. You don’t know what they’re saying, but you hope it isn’t about you. Regardless, you’re the new kid, and the fact that they’re whispering—and that none of the players have greeted you or even came to stand by you—already has you feeling a bit excluded.

“Let’s see what you got,” Coach Harman says to you. She blows her whistle. “Stop yapping, ladies, and run a lap. Then pick a drill. We’ll start with rebounding on the north end and shooting on the south. Ready, set, go!”

You ease into a nice pace, although your body is still sore from carrying boxes into your new house yesterday. So many stairs. You slow your pace just a little, and a knot of girls pass you. They don’t say a word. No “hello” and no “welcome to the team.”

You try to blow it off, but you feel the sting of being ignored. You’d never treat a new teammate this way.

When you finish the lap, you see the players splitting off. Some head to one end of the court to work on rebounding. Others go to practice shooting.

What will you choose to do?

Edition details

• Publisher: Lake 7 Creative
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1960084062
• ISBN 13: 9781960084064
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 152