On Guard

Description

Trey Smith, the captain of the Wildcats, knows he's one of the best players on the team. He doesn't worry about anything when he's on the court. But then he finds out that he knows someone on a rival team. It's his cousin, Pete. And to make matters worse, they're assigned to guard each other. How can Trey play when he'll have to beat his cousin to win?

Who is Jake Maddox? Athlete, author, world-traveler - or all three? He has surfed in Hawaii, scuba-dived in Australia, and climbed the mountains of Peru and Alaska. His books range from the most popular team sports to outdoor activities to survival adventures and even to auto racing. His exploits have inspired numerous writers to walk in his footsteps - literally! Each of his stories is stamped with teamwork, fair play, and a strong sense of self-worth and discipline. Always a team-player, Maddox realizes it takes more than one man (or woman) to create a book good enough for a young reader. He hopes the lessons learned on the court, field, or arena and the champion sprinter pace of his books can motivate kids to become better athletes and lifelong readers. Sean Tiffany has worked as an illustrator for more than twenty-five years. He has illustrated more than sixty children's books for Capstone and has been an instructor at the famed Joe Kubert School in northern New Jersey. He mixes his love of comics, art, and rock and roll in the multimedia project OilCan Drive. Raised on a small island off the coast of Maine, Sean now resides in Boulder, Colorado with his wife, Monika, their son, James, and a house full of entirely too many guitars.

The Stone Arch fiction books on sports are well-received in my library because they are easy to read but don't look like baby books. In Jake Maddox's On Guard, two cousins who play basketball for different schools end up playing against each other, in much the same way their fathers did in college. The rivalry puts them both off their game until they realize that they won't remember the outc9ome, and it's not worth it to fight. Discussion questions and writing prompts at the back. http: //msyinglingreads.blogspot.com/2010/01/capstone-press-bonanza.html-- "Ms. Yingling Reads Blog"