Thirteen-year-old basketball star Jordan Ryker feels like his life is falling apart. All Jordie wanted was for his parents to stop fighting. Soon, he gets his wish. His parents separate and then his dad announces he’s gay. Shocked, Jordie struggles with how to process all this. His dad taught him everything he knows about basketball, and there’s an important championship game coming up. He needs him more than ever. But Jordie feels like his dad has abandoned his family. He doesn’t want anything to do with him now and he definitely doesn’t want to meet his dad’s new boyfriend. It takes a new girl with wicked basketball skills and a revelation from his best friend to help Jordie realize that while some things change, other things never do.

“When you’re hurt, the natural instinct is to hurt back. That doesn’t make it right. But it does make you human. Making mistakes is human, but trying to make things right after makes you a better one.”

This novel is a perfectly-flowing, well-told tale that intersperses delicate issues and emotions with gripping basketball scenes. There’s everything from fun, snappy dialogue to raw emotions and the restorative power of best friends and caring family. Boys accustomed to locker-room banter and team-sports pressure will relate. Athletic and independent-minded female readers will embrace it for the high-spirited character named Tammy, a budding basketball star who chooses to be the first girl on a boy’s team.