Centerville

Basketball-crazy Jake Burnett is thrilled to be leaving home to attend prestigious Centerville Prep. It’s an opportunity to pursue his hoop dreams at the highest level. But things aren’t quite as advertised at his new school, and Jake soon finds himself struggling both on and off the court. At first, Jake is determined to play harder and ignore the warning signs. But then he discovers that his new head coach is a scam artist, putting kids at risk for his own gain. Now Jake has a difficult choice to make—advance his basketball career or do the right thing.

When Jakes upends his life to play basketball for Centerville, he soon realizes that Coach Stone wasn’t honest about the school. Despite this, Jake is pumped about being able to play basketball with other elite players. However, Coach Stone yells disparaging remarks at Jake and doesn’t give him any playing time during games. While Jake’s conflict is unique, readers who play sports will relate to Jake’s desire to play for a winning team.

When Bill Jennings, who works for the State Board of Education, starts asking questions, Jake tries to avoid him. Jake doesn’t want to do anything that might hurt the other players. Jake’s struggle to protect his teammates and please his coach is understandable. However, when Jake realizes that Coach Stone’s scheme has the potential to cause serious harm, Jake knows that keeping the coach’s secrets isn’t the right thing to do. In the end, Jake realizes that “basketball was a great game, but it didn’t define us.”

As part of the Orca Sports Series, Centerville is an engaging book written for middle-schoolers and teens. The story has a fast-paced plot and easy-to-read language that is perfect for reluctant readers. While the book is relatively short with 176 pages, Centerville’s plot and character development is well-developed and doesn’t feel rushed.

Centerville is a fast-paced basketball story that has enough play-by-play basketball to keep sports fans entertained. Because the story focuses on Jake, readers will be able to understand his struggles as well as his thinking process; this will allow readers to connect with Jake and empathize with his conflict. While Jake clearly loves basketball, he learns that basketball isn’t “everything. . . There were more important things in life—like being happy, being a good friend, living up to your word and doing the right thing.” Centerville is an easy-to-read story that will entertain as well as teach important lessons about the importance of honesty. The graphic novels The Crossover  by Kwame Alexander and Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong by Prudence Shen & Faith Erin Hicks will also be a slam dunk for basketball fans.

Sexual Content 
●      None

Violence 
●      None

Drugs and Alcohol 
●      Billy, one of Jake’s basketball teammates, tries to commit suicide by drinking alcohol and taking pills. A nurse tells Jake that Billy had “been drinking. And it seems he’s taken a lot of pills.” Billy spends a night in the ICU.

Language 
●      Pissed is used occasionally.
●      Crap and damn are both used once.

Supernatural
●      None

Spiritual Content 
●      None