Susie Wilde (Children's Literature)
Slam! tells the story of a Harlem high school boy who has basketball in his heart and trouble with academics at the challenging new school he's beginning, Those aren't the only storms he faces: his grandmother's sick and his Moms is grieving. His Pops is out of work again and drinking. His young brother won't go out to get dinner because "they had a drive-by on 141st Street . . . a little girl got nicked." His white coach is on his case and readers will wonder who's the one with attitude. Slam deals with the difference between sexuality stemming from want and that coming from love, learning his closest friend is dealing crack and keeping his cool amid the prejudice of teachers and peers. As his girlfriend Mtisha says, "you're letting everything mess with you, you need to have your emotional immune system checked out." This is a character and story adolescent bovs will love; it's got sex, drugs, sports and drama. To an adult, the most admirable part might be Myers' refusal to be glib or pretty in telling his story, making characters and dialogue so real they can't help but be felt. For example, Slam and a white student embark on a video project; he films and she edits. She begins to see the commercial potential of this ''ghetto" portrayal while Slam views his 'hood living its life. A teacher affirms his talent in seeing and the girl's "immature attitude" and then later the same teacher almost provokes Slam to violence by slandering his use of "be," asking if "that's directly from your African background? Maybe from the We-Be tribe?" Myers asks readers to see beyond the race lines. Slam's best advisor, retired white coach Coldy, tells him "the only difference between on the court and off the court is that everybody is in the game off the court. You're in the game, Slam whether you want to be or not." 1998 (orig. 1996), Scholastic, $15.95 and $4.99. Ages 12 up.

Rebecca Joseph (Children's Literature)
Myers' novel is set in Harlem. Its narrator is a 17-year-old basketball player, Greg 'Slam" Harris, who has transferred to a citywide arts magnet school. He struggles to keep up academically, and the adults on and off the basketball team give him a hard time. Along with adjusting to his new school, Slam must confront his best friend who appears to be slipping into the nether world of drugs. The book is filled with fast-paced dialogue and action-packed basketball scenes that help show Slam's identity crisis as he tries to decide where he belongs. An excellent book for older teenage readers. 1996, Scholastic, $15.95 and $4.99. Ages 14 up.

CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices, 1996)
Slam has dreams of playing in the NBA, and the 17-year-old thinks he might have a shot. But events at high school seem to be conspiring against him: the coach doesn't like him and his grades are going down despite the video project that has captured his interest in one of his classes. Between his dad's unemployment and his mom's worries about Grandma Ellie's illness, things at home don't seem any brighter. Add to all this Mtisha, the serious young woman who may or may not be his girlfriend depending on how Slam behaves, and Ice, Slam's best friend since forever who may be getting mixed up with dangerous business in the neighborhood, and Slam feels as if he's being asked too much by too many people and getting too little respect in return. Strong characterizations and lots of play-by-play basketball action distinguish Walter Dean Myers's sensitive, well-rounded novel in which a young African-American must look both inside himself and at the people around him in order to start regaining a sense of control in his life. Honor Book, 1996 CCBC Coretta Scott King Award Discussion: Author CCBC categories: Fiction for Teenagers. 1996, Scholastic, 266 pages, $15.95. Ages 14 and older.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, 1996)
A Harlem teenager learns how to apply the will he has to win at hoops to other parts of his life in this vivid, fluent story from Myers (Toussaint L'Ouverture, p. 1472, etc.). Greg "Slam" Harris is justly proud of his game, but he realizes that NBA daydreams don't cut it in the classrooms of his new South Bronx magnet school--and that the tough talk that serves him so well on the street only gets his teachers and his college-bound girlfriend, Mtisha, on his case. Writing in a rolling, fast-break style that sounds so authentic that the absence of rough language is hardly noticeable, Myers brilliantly captures the pace and feel of inner city life as he climbs into the shoes of an angry, confused young man watching his friends making right or wrong turns, and wondering about his own direction. The author plots with rare skill: Slam simultaneously works to mend fences with Mtisha, nerves himself to find out whether his suddenly prosperous main man, Ice, has turned to dealing, and leads the school's unprepossessing team through a series of exciting games to a conference championship. Few writers can match Myers for taut, savvy basketball action, and in those scenes he's at the top of his form. Some loose ends may stay untied, but Slam, after hearing his assistant coach's comment that not all games end at the buzzer, is beginning to find a way to make his pride work for, rather than against, him. Persuasive. 1996, Scholastic, $15.95. © 1996 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Claire Rosser (KLIATT Review, January 1999 (Vol. 33, No. 1))
The Coretta Scott King Award, an ALA Best Book for YAs, a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age -- these are the kudos already given to Slam!, a realistic book about an African American boy who loves to play basketball. "Slam" Harris is 17, recently transferred to a magnet school where for the first time for him, studies are a major challenge. His new basketball coach thinks attitude and teamwork are more important than talent, and frequently keeps him on the bench even though Slam's skills can help the team win. The wise assistant coach becomes a mentor who tries to help Slam see the bigger picture: "The only difference between on the court and off the court is that everybody is in the game off the court. You will play, and you will win or lose. There's nobody on the bench, nobody sitting it out. You're in the game, Slam. You're in it whether you want to be or not." And so, Slam starts opening his eyes to the necessity of taking his schoolwork seriously, to honestly evaluating the life of his best friend, Ice, who is a fantastic athlete but mistreating women and dealing drugs. Slam's parents are believably supportive, especially his mom, as is his girlfriend, who has especially high goals for her own life. Derek is Slam's infuriating but lovable 9-year-old brother. As Slam says, "If Derek makes ten it's going to be a miracle." So the reader gets caught up in Slam's basketball talent and the excitement of the described games, the struggles with the difficult coach and the well-meaning teachers and principal, the developing love affair, and the necessity of giving up his dangerous best friend. An excellent book that will appeal to all kinds of YA readers, especially those who love basketball (or any other sport) the way Slam does. KLIATT Codes: JS*--Exceptional book, recommended for junior and senior high school students. 1996, Scholastic/Point Signature, 266p. 18cm, $4.99. Ages 13 to 18.

Chris Crowe (The ALAN Review, Winter 1997 (Vol. 24, No. 2))
Like many inner-city kids, seventeen-year-old Greg "Slam" Harris figures to make it big in the NBA, but his single-minded devotion to basketball leads to trouble with school, family, and friends, trouble that ultimately forces him to re-evaluate his attitudes. By the end of the novel, Slam has learned two valuable lessons: how to determine what's important in life and how to work within a system that is not his own. Myers relies on Slam's engaging African-American voice, peppered with street and basketball jargon, to tell this story of overcoming conflict on the streets and on the court. Initially, the language may be off-putting for novices to this dialect and jargon, but patient readers will find themselves irresistibly attracted to Slam and his story. The game scenes are superb; they capture the tension and the pace of basketball better than any I have read in a long time. 1996, Scholastic, 269 pp., $14.95. Ages 12 up.

Janice M. Del Negro (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, February 1997 (Vol. 50, No. 6))
A junior in high school, Gregory "Slam" Harris has a game, at least on the basketball court. Off the court, he's not so sure-his grandmother is dying, his mother thinks he needs a role model in a three-piece suit, and he and his best friend Ice (who also has a game and NBA dreams) seem to be drifting apart. Myers has a neat trick of making the reader see the world through Slam's streetwise, life-naïve eyes as he observes his close-knit family, his girlfriend Mtisha, and Harlem's 125th Street. Reminiscent of the narrative voice in June Jordan's His Own Where (BCCB 12/71), Slam's language is rhythmic and slangy, uncontrived and immediate. The realization that Ice is "in the life," dealing crack and possibly other drugs, causes Slam to focus with even more intensity on his own future: "Maybe if I could get my game right, all my game, on and off the court, I would get over." The conclusion is hopeful,, and the basketball scenes are tough. R--Recommended. Reviewed from galleys (c) Copyright 1997, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 1996, Scholastic, [240p], $15.95. Grades 7-10.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, 1996)
Seventeen-year-old Greg Harris is known as Slam for his incredible skill on the basketball court. When he goes to a new school -- a magnet school where African Americans are in the minority -- he faces a host of challenges and conflicts. Myers never presents easy solutions in his novels, and readers will appreciate the honesty with which he portrays the dreams of one Harlem teenager. Category: Fiction. 1996, Scholastic, 268pp.. Ages 14 to 18. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.

Lynne B. Hawkins (VOYA, February 1997 (Vol. 19, No. 6))
Basketball is my thing. I can hoop. Case closed...You can take my game to the bank and wait around for the interest...But without the ball, without the floorboards under my feet, without the mid-court line that takes me halfway home, you can get to me." Greg "Slam" Harris knows himself; as narrator, he has been to the end of this book, taken what he needed from his experiences, and come back to share his story with his reader. Slam is a junior in the visual arts program at Latimer, a New York City magnet school. He is struggling everywhere, including on the basketball court, where he assumes he knows more than anyone. After successive run-ins with the principal and the coach, he is fortunate to acquire as mentor Assistant Coach Goldstein. "Goldy" helps Slam see that the skills and maturity he usually brings to his game are also worth developing in the rest of his life. Slam is wary of the temptations on every corner in Harlem, steady in his relationships with his family and his girl, concerned about his friends, and, after nearly throwing it all away, willing to work hard to get what he wants. He interacts with his family and friends with a light humor that underscores the seriousness of the world in which they live. The author of Hoops (Delacorte, 1981) and The Outside Shot (Delacorte, 1984) puts the reader at the games and in the 'hood through Slam's descriptions. Open to any page, and let Myers' skill with words pull you into the story. Slam! will fly off the shelves into the hands of basketball fans, and will give them a lot more than a game. VOYA CODES: 5Q 5P J S (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Every YA (who reads) was dying to read it yesterday; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 1996, Scholastic, 269p., $15.95. Ages 12 to 18.