<i>How Lamar's Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy</i> (review)
2011; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 64; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/bcc.2011.0153
ISSN1558-6766
Autores Tópico(s)American Sports and Literature
ResumoReviewed by: How Lamar's Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy Karen Coats Allen, Crystal . How Lamar's Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy. Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins, 2011. [272p]. ISBN 978-0-06-199272-8 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 5-8. Lamar's asthma keeps him from being a basketball star like his brother or a soccer star like he wants to be, but it doesn't keep him from being the king of Striker's, the local bowling alley where he spends most of his summer days. Even though the family mantel at home is crowded with his brother's basketball trophies, there's one spot reserved for him with a sticky note his mother left there a few years before she died, and he's determined to fill it with a bowling trophy. First things first, though: this summer he's hoping to get a girlfriend, meet his bowling idol Bubba Sanders, and get his own Pro Thunder bowling ball. Things are going well until he teams up with Billy, a local thug, and starts using his skills to hustle unsuspecting opponents; soon he's rolling in green and guilt, as his best friend, Sergio, and his new girlfriend, Makeda, disapprove of his association with Billy. Billy convinces him that they have a lot in common, though, including abusive older brothers who need to be taken down a peg, and he helps Lamar stage a stunt that will hit his brother where it hurts. Lamar's narrative voice, full of innovative slang and boy-friendly similes ("I'm licking Makeda's strawberry lip gloss off my mouth like it's leftover pork chop grease") is as fresh and funny as anything by Christopher Paul Curtis, and though his story is contemporary, it will resonate with readers who have enjoyed Curtis' historical characters. Lamar is a lovable dupe, too full of youthful swagger to think through consequences but good-hearted enough to fix his mistakes. The powerful mix of sibling rivalry, revenge, and hard-won redemption strengthens the perennial appeal of the naïve-underdog-makes-good plot; readers will come for the laughs and stay for the laughs, while the lessons slip in unawares. [End Page 317] Copyright © 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
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