Center for Teaching & Learning

When nationally recruited basketball star Russell’s parents are murdered, he transforms into Boy21, an extraterrestrial creature from the cosmos. This leaves everyone around him confused and worried about his mental state, including Finley, the starting point guard for his high school basketball team. Finley is faced with a choice: to do what’s best for the team and recruit Boy21, or to keep his own starting position. Matthew Quick sends Finley and Boy21 on a rollercoaster of basketball, violence, romances, and choices.
From the preface of this book, Quick gives the reader hundreds of questions to answer throughout the course of this amazing novel. Where is Finley’s mom? Why does Boy21 have a fixation on space? How will Finley get out of Bellmont? All of these questions will be checked off your list as you consume this read.
Quick left my jaw wide open with the last ten pages of this teen fiction that come out of nowhere. I found that I could ingest this whole story within two nights of reading once I let myself indulge fully. Over the course of this book I began to make bets with myself about what would come next, which forced me to read on.
I recommend this book to anyone who has ever been involved with a sport (especially basketball)and who is twelve years or older. Quick captures all the best features of a Walter Dean Myers or Mike Lupica sports fiction novel to create an amazing book. Boy 21 is being developed into a film by Tom Hellner soon. I gave this book a ten out of ten, and I hope you get a chance to rate it that also.
Nolan
Little, Brown and Company, 250 pages