Slam!

Slam!

• Genre: Fiction; middle grade sports
• Originally Published: 1996
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 750L; grades 7-9
• Structure/Length: 21 chapters; approx. 272 pages; approx. 5 hours, 5 minutes on audio
• Protagonist/Central Conflict: Seventeen-year-old Greg “Slam” Harris is unstoppable on the basketball court. Slam transfers to a top-notch school to play, knowing that he’s more likely to catch the attention of NBA scouts at a better school. But the transition isn’t as smooth as he thought it might be. As Slam juggles school, basketball, his girlfriend, and the realization that his best friend might be selling drugs, his grades start to slip, jeopardizing everything. If Slam wants to hold it all together, he must bring the same passion for basketball to his everyday life.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Substance use/addiction; mild language; mild sexual content; briefly mentions sexual assault

Walter Dean Myers, Author

• Bio: 1937-2014; American writer of books for young people; raised in Harlem; used writing to escape tough childhood; dropped out of high school to join the Army on his 17th birthday; inspired to write novels after reading Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin; wrote over 100 books during his 45-year career; National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature from 2012-2013 and used the slogan, “Reading is Not Optional”; We Need Diverse Books named a grant and award after him for his call for a more complete representation of Black people in children’s books
• Other Works: Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Stuff (1975); The Golden Serpent (1980); Hoops (1981); Motown and Didi: A Love Story (1984); Invasion (2013)
• Awards: Coretta Scott King Award (1997); ALA Best Book for Young Adults (1997); M. Jerry Weiss Book Award (1997)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Coming of Age
• The Importance of Teamwork
• The Role of Mentorship

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the social and geographical contexts regarding decisions that incite Slam’s conflict.
• Analyze paired text and other brief resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Coming of Age, Teamwork, and Mentorship.
• Plan and design a collage that conveys the attributes of a select character based on details from the novel.
• Analyze and evaluate the plot and character details to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding Latimer, the relationship between Slam and Ice, and other topics.