Bound To Stay Bound

Bulletin for the Center... - 03/01/2012 In this new novel from Volponi (Black and White, BCCB 6/05, etc.), basketball’s March Madness draws down toward the championship game with a match-up between the Michigan State Spartans and the Troy University (Alabama) Trojans, to see who will take on Duke or North Carolina for the national title. Spartans are led by Malcolm McBride, a “one and done” freshman who’s headed directly to the NBA and is more than willing to spout his views to sports reporters concerning the inequity of unpaid college athletics. The Trojans boast Roko Bacic, a towering immigrant from war-torn Croatia who treasures his opportunity to play the game he loves and get a free college education into the bargain. It’s the classic setup of the team with individual star power versus the team with cohesion and cooperation, and you’d think that in YA Lit Land this could only lead to one of two foregone conclusions: the author awards the Cinderella-season good guys the win (happy sports-story ending), or the author throws the game in favor of the brash, cold-hearted, raw talent (the grim, life-sucks-and-then-you-die YA-novel ending). Volponi, however, won’t make either of the easy calls, creating instead a complex backstory for each of the featured players and their important teammates and airing a thought-provoking discussion of the pros and cons of student athletes vs. professional college players. A triple-overtime game keeps readers on the edge of their seats, but nerve-wracking as the action on the floor may be, the baggage that the players bring to the game is equally fraught. Don’t look to this review for a spoiler; suffice it to say, there is a winner and a loser. Just maybe not the kind you imagine. EB - Copyright 2012 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

Booklist - 02/15/2012 *Starred Review* There’s a strange alchemy in the sporting world, where a single game can take on mythic proportions, thanks to orbiting clusters of mini dramas in perfect alignment around it. Volponi’s novel creates such a game in an NCAA tournament Final Four match between the heavily favored Michigan State Spartans and the über-underdog Trojans, of Troy University. The Spartans are loaded with NBA-caliber talent, including one-and-done freshman superstar and trash-talker extraordinaire Malcolm McBride, while the Trojans fuel their Cinderella-story winning streak with team play led by an underrated Croatian point guard, Roko Bacic. But there’s also a Spartan benchwarmer who’s flailing under the weight of his name, Michael Jordan, and a Trojan center struggling to keep his mind on the court and off his maybe-cheating fiancée and cheerleader, Hope, nicknamed Hope of Troy by the media, angling for a feel-good human-interest story. Volponi dribbles out the players’ backstories as the game goes into single, double, and then triple overtime, and in so doing finds room to comment on the divide between raw talent and focused dedication, individualism and teamwork, and confidence and arrogance. Most fascinating and timely is the discussion of the uncomfortable truth that although college athletics has become a multi-billion-dollar business, the players who make it all possible aren’t allowed a dime of the earnings. As with all clutch performances, Volponi nails it when it counts in this dynamic story. - Copyright 2012 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 03/01/2012 Gr 8 Up—The fates of four college basketball players come together as their teams meet in a semifinal game of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Malcolm McBride and Michael Jordan (who bears the burden of being named after the game's greatest player) are members of the vaunted Michigan State Spartans while Roko Bacic and Crispin Rice play for the underdog Troy University Trojans. Their stories are told by means of flashbacks, journal entries, newspaper accounts, and TV interviews weaving in and out of the play-by-play. Brash, outspoken Malcolm, who grew up in a crime-ridden Detroit housing project and whose sister was killed in a drive-by shooting, makes no secret of his desire to secure a lucrative pro contract after one year of college basketball. For Roko, basketball is his ticket to a better life after his escape from war-torn Croatia. Michael's self-confidence has suffered from his inability to live up to his famous name, and Crispin is having second thoughts about a hasty (and public) proposal to a possibly faithless girlfriend. Malcolm, Michael, and Roko come across as being especially complex, multifaceted, driven individuals. Malcolm is in many ways the least likable but most compelling of the protagonists. He boldly speaks truth to power in challenging a college athletic system that routinely exploits student athletes while raking in hundreds of millions of dollars from their unpaid labors. With exciting game action and a candid exploration of the hypocrisy inherent so-called amateur sports, this gritty, realistic, and riveting novel deserves the wide audience it will no doubt attract.—Richard Luzer, Fair Haven Union High School, VT - Copyright 2012 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

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