Three-Point Shot by J.R. Nakken

A Middle Grade Sports/Coming of Age Novel published by 1st Book Library (3/23/04)

Summary:

Nathan Red Leggins worries that his background as an Assiniboine Indian will be the only thing kids at his new school know and care about. Nathan wants to fit in. He wants to play basketball even more.

Keywords:

Sports, Coming of Age, Classes, Basketball, Bullies, School, Family, Stepfather, Tryouts, Indian, Reservation, Sophomore, Suburbia, Spokane, Varsity, Point Guard, Three-Point Shots, Drama

My Review:

I don’t think teenagers are like this nowadays, but we wish they were. Red Leggins and his buddies and those who aren’t so nice to him are mild in comparison to what we’ve seen on the media in contemporary society, but I wish kids these days were logical and able to be nice and change their minds about others like in this book.

I wish more coming of age/middle grade books featured more female characters as their own persons. The only female characters in this book were the girl next door (next neighborhood over) that Nathan has a crush on and Nathan’s own mother. Most of the other characters were male.

This book shows a young boy learning how to interact with his peers and how to accept his new stepfather and his mother’s relationship with another man. Through this story, Nathan learns to be proud of his background and heritage while not letting it become his defining characteristic.

This novel was published by 1st Book Library on 3/23/04 and is available on Amazon here.

TL;DR Star Rating: 4.5

Links for more information:

Goodreads