The Playmakers

Determined to join Hopson Middle School’s basketball team, seventh graders Jax and Nic, who have been best friends since birth, train all summer in preparation for tryouts. Despite their hard work, however, neither of them makes the cut. Though they’re disheartened by this loss, they scheme to put together their own basketball team and challenge the Hopson Hawks. They approach tall aspiring actor Luke, who agrees to play in exchange for their help participating in a regional theater competition. The trio is joined by loner Miley—now their statistician—and other classmates to form the Immortals. Using Jax, Luke, and Miley’s alternating narration, as well as journal entries and text exchanges, previous collaborators Brown and Morris (The Wild Journey of Juniper Berry) winningly capture the middle schoolers’ humor, attitudes, and desires. Explorations of privilege, mental health, incarcerated parents, and financial precarity via the protagonists’ personal challenges culminate in a story that emphasizes the power of teamwork to uplift others. Most characters read as white; Nic cues as half Black and assumed half white. Ages 8–10. Agent: Ben Grange, L. Perkins Agency. (Apr.)