Reviews: (by author)

de la Pena, Matt. Ball Don't Lie. New York: Delacorte, 2005.

This is one of the best coming-of-age novels I've read in a long time. The "ball" is basketball, and it don't lie-either the ball goes in the basket or it doesn't. Either you got the moves or you don't-no way to fake anything. Protagonist Sticky, a teenager shunted from foster home to foster home, is the only white who gets to play at Lincoln Rec, the rundown gym where superb black players compete for time on the court. Sticky is so good at the game that he is accepted; the only other good thing Sticky has going for him is his girlfriend, Anh Thu. The plot is full of surprises, and, for most of us, the setting is unfamiliar, but de la Pena skillfully guides even the basketball-clueless reader into his story with remarkable character development and a use of language that is original and compelling. You start to care about Sticky early in the novel as the author lets you bit by bit into his life and you don't stop caring even after you've finished the book. I heartily recommend Ball Don't Lie for adolescent and older readers; there's some tough content but none of it is gratuitous: Ball Don't Lie doesn't itself lie, and its footwork, like that of a fine basketball player, doesn't stumble.

Alida Allison, January 2006

Back to Reviews D-F