The book is about thirteen-year-old Lamar Washington. Lamar is the “maddest, baddest, most spectacular” bowler (1) at Striker’s Bowling Paradise, who is also a joke in the whole school’s girl’s population (5). His brother, Xavier, is also a problem. Xavier the Basketball Savior earns trophy after trophy and soaks up their Dad’s attention. Then, bad boy Billy Jenks convinces Lamar that hustling will give him enough money to buy an expensive pro bowling ball, impress big time bowler Bubba Sanders and win his dream girl, Makeda (50). Then, Xavier finally pushes Lamar off the edge by beating him up and destroying the one thing Lamar loves other than bowling - a post-it note from his late mother (154) saying that his first trophy will go here and he will always be a superstar (7). Billy decides it’s time for revenge, and tells Lamar the plan about pulling a fire alarm at the most important game of Xavier’s life (155). Then, Billy’s plan goes wrong and Lamar is stuck with the blame of ruining any relationship in his life and Xavier’s chances at college. He is forced to redeem himself, and quickly (206). I would recommend this book for middle school students.

There are many reasons I recommend this book. One reason is because it’s well written, it has humor but it can also make you cry. Also, the themes relate to middle school aged problems. There is sibling rivalry between Xavier and Lamar. Also, there are the affects of revenge caused by peer pressure. Most importantly, there is the theme of hard-won redemption which is something everyone should know about. That sometimes you need to work hard, by yourself, in order to fix a mess.