Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Ball Don't Lie

by Matt de la Pena (Goodreads Author)

3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 · rating details · 432 ratings · 132 reviews

Sticky is a beat-around-the-head foster kid with nowhere to call home but the street, and an outer shell so tough that no one will take him in. He started out life so far behind the pack that the finish line seems nearly unreachable. He’s a white boy living and playing in a world where he doesn’t seem to belong.

But Sticky can ball. And basketball might just be his ticket o...more

Paperback, 280 pages

Published March 13th 2007 by Ember (first published September 27th 2005)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Front and Center by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

YA Sport Novels

76th out of 159 books — 181 voters

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

YA "Brain" Novels

41st out of 83 books — 141 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 876)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

May 30, 2013 Matthew Torres added it

Matthew Torres 904/9D
Ball Don’t Lie Random House Children’s Books, 288, $7.99
Matt de la Peña 9780385734257
The main characters name is Sticky and he has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and he has a passion for basketball. Sticky lived with a drug-addicted, prostitute mother and her abusive boyfriend. When his mother had no money for food, she would put Sticky in dirty clothes, place a sign around his neck, and sit him on the street to beg for money. She told him a bunch of dad stories, which...more Matthew Torres 904/9D
Ball Don’t Lie Random House Children’s Books, 288, $7.99
Matt de la Peña 9780385734257
The main characters name is Sticky and he has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and he has a passion for basketball. Sticky lived with a drug-addicted, prostitute mother and her abusive boyfriend. When his mother had no money for food, she would put Sticky in dirty clothes, place a sign around his neck, and sit him on the street to beg for money. She told him a bunch of dad stories, which left Sticky's imagination thinking exactly what his mom told him. He struggled with bottled-up memories of his mother's suicide, and for survival. The genre of this book is survival.
The title of this story is Ball Don’t Lie by Matt de la Peña. Sticky was diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), which causes repeated movements such as: tying and untying his shoelaces, zipping and unzipping his gym bag, and washing/rewashing his hands, over and over until it felt right to him. In a positive turnabout, the OCD is a behavior blessing that keeps him focused on constantly perfecting his basketball skills. Sticky hopes to be awarded an athletic scholarship to the University of California at Los Angeles, which then leads to the NBA - specifically the LA Lakers team. In high school, Sticky is pulled out by basketball Coach Reynolds from the Junior Varsity team to Varsity playoffs which brought them a winning year. I would say the genre of this story is Realistic Fiction because it can happen and ive seen the same type of situation happen as well.
My opinion about this story is that it goes to show even if a person has a disease it isn’t always a disadvantage; there are always unique things about everybody. I felt sad in the beginning because of Sticky’s problem, but in the end I felt glad for him because he found something he loved and he perfected it even with a disease like OCD. I recommend this book to anybody in general because it’s an inspirational book and who doesn’t like to read inspirational books there the best type of books, well in my opinion they are.
If you like real life books that are so good they can make you cry I suggest this book more than 100% because it can really bring you to tears. The way that a kid with a disease uses it in such a unique way to achieve his goal is truly beautiful to read.
(less)

like · see review

Mar 22, 2013 Enrique Chavez added it

Realistic drama fans are not to be messed with we know what we want exciting begins awesome plots and endings, heat-ful, alarming actions. Sticky trying to survive in a hard world.

Matt de la Pena delivers all that goo stuff in "Ball Don't Lie",(drama/sports) which opens a on a basketball court with a feel-good readings. It's about sticky living with his abusive whore mom until he was six years old then was sent to a foster home. Sticky is a 6'3 whit boy that loves to play basketball with bunch...more

like · see review

Mar 19, 2013 Jeff rated it 3 of 5 stars

Alright so this book is something that I came across in my college writing class and I feel that it is worth talking about, especially if you don't commonly read books. Ball Don't Lie is something of an oddity among books specific to the young adult genre. Your typical young adult book is going to generally have a set of young characters, some element of romance, and your stereotypical coming of age story where the main protagonist grows and develops as a character. Ball Don't Lie has these to...more Alright so this book is something that I came across in my college writing class and I feel that it is worth talking about, especially if you don't commonly read books. Ball Don't Lie is something of an oddity among books specific to the young adult genre. Your typical young adult book is going to generally have a set of young characters, some element of romance, and your stereotypical coming of age story where the main protagonist grows and develops as a character. Ball Don't Lie has these to a certain degree, but the way they are presented and the way the book is advertised don't entirely match up. Most areas on the internet this book shows up on generally depict Ball Don't Lie as a book that is very well suited to bringing in reluctant readers. Despite this common description, I must argue that the book is not well suited for the job of pulling in new readers. I don't say this because what was written is a bad book. The problem this book suffers from is that it does a poor job of following the general conventions of your average young adult novel. This doesn't necessarily make it bad book, but it makes it a poor introduction for new readers who may just be starting to get into books. While I don't claim that I am by any means a professional in these areas, I have read enough young adult novels to recognize that the way events occur in this book are very confusing under the title of young adult fiction.
Probably the most difficult aspect to overcome for a reader is the main character Sticky. The largest problem with Sticky is that he is possibly the least interesting character in the book. By saying this I don't mean that he doesn't have an interesting story or plot events, he does. In fact, Sticky has one of the most interesting backgrounds of any book that I've read with his past tragedies and the suffering he obtained from them. In the present time line where we follow Sticky, we watch him struggle with OCD and his struggles as he tries to get a gift for his girlfriend. From this struggle we watch as he battles with his current life and his debate over whether to do the right thing or not. Again, this is relatively interesting in the scope of the book. The problem stems from the end of each of Sticky's actions. What makes Sticky such an uninteresting character is that nothing he does ever matters. For example, at least a third of the book is devoted to the growing up of Sticky and his past. Viewing a back story is often used to enhance a story by helping one either understand the character more or gain pity for them as we understand why we misjudged them in the first place. Ball Don't Lie does neither of these things. The book makes a fair attempt at gathering pity for Sticky as we learn how he lost his family and each subsequent adopted family. All of this shows us that Sticky has had a hard life, but instead of gathering pity from the reader, Sticky's history simply reinforces what the reader already knows. When things go wrong in his life, he not only fails to grow from his hardships, but he crumbles beneath them and becomes even worse. After being removed from several adopted households his resolve was to become a thug. Again, this isn't bad, but it is very unusual of a young adult fiction to not have its characters grow out of hardship. More importantly this would give a false impression of what young adult books are like if you are just starting out as a reader.
The second big issue is more about the plot in general. Throughout most of the book, Sticky doesn't grow as a character. In your average book, you will have some vague form of a progression of events that will lead up to some form of a conclusion. In Ball Don't Lie the main plot path is to have Sticky grow as a person, except in the entire 280 pages of the book all of the growing and revelations occur in the last 10 pages. Throughout the book the reader is given insight into Sticky's past and scenes of Sticky's friends attempting to intervene in his life to help him make the right decision. In the end, Sticky had succumbed to his tragic background and actively refused the advice of his friends taking it as a challenge to be more like he already was. Once more, this is not typical of the young adult genre. Be it Harry Potter, Twilight, or Hunger Games, rarely will a book actively present a character who shuns their friends and allies. Sticky disregards essentially all advice given to him throughout the entire book and has little to no character development. The little character development he has in the last 10 pages involves a violent altercation that would have occurred regardless of everything that had happened prior in the book. In the end, this leaves a sour taste as nothing up until that point felt necessary. This isn't the best feeling in the world to have if this is your first venture into the young adult genre or reading in general.
The last prominent issue for a new reader is going to be the general layout of the book. The book employs time skipping between chapters to switch between Sticky's past and present. There is a lot of background to cover with Sticky so it makes sense to stagger the information for the reader, but the transitions are non-existent. The first time I was introduced into a segments of Sticky's past I was thoroughly confused. For the first few pages I couldn't understand where all of the characters we were just talking with had vanished too. The only way to tell which time frame you're in is to remember which characters belong in which time frame as there is no other transition offered. The jumps into Sticky's past don't appear to have a particular purpose to the present time line so they often feel awkward in placement. It feels more like a second story and it doesn't really feed into the next chapter or the present time line in general. This isn't such a large issue if you are someone who frequently reads books, but again this book is advertised for reluctant readers. If you are a reluctant reader you would need to be prepared for this switch or the book will continue on without explaining to you what happened.
All in all Ball Don't Lie isn't a bad book, but if you're using this as an introduction to reading you will be given the wrong impression of how books generally go. On the other hand if you are already an experience reader you may find that this book is a change of pace and worth looking into. It certainly wasn't a book made for me, but as I have seen this book is often hit or miss. To sum it up, Sticky isn't very interesting, but the people around him are well written and worth the read. So if you're looking for a change of pace in books I would recommend taking a jab at this one. However, if you're a first time reader or relatively new to reading, I would hold off on this one for a while as it is a rather difficult book to follow.(less)

like · see review

Jan 23, 2013 Halkovic's-Classroom rated it 4 of 5 stars

The book I read was Ball Don’t Lie by, Matt de la Pena and it is a drama and it is about sports.
In this book Sticky wants to be known as the “Eminem of Hoops”. But its hard growing up being a white kid in an all black community. His mom was a drug addict prostitute who eventually committed suicide and not knowing his dad he was in foster homes. He has been working hard with his basketball skills playing ball at a place called Lincoln Rec which is a gym and sometimes a shelter home. He considers...more

like · see review

Nov 09, 2012 Katie rated it 2 of 5 stars

I am not the kind of person who can skim a book... but this one was an exception. I found myself really bored by the in-depth details of the basketball game. I also didn't really like Sticky all that much. Nor did I really like the third person omniscient narration. Very few times did we get to hear the individual thoughts of Sticky or his girlfriend. The only thing I did like about the fact that it was written in this way was the fact that it allowed us to see more than just Sticky but Annie to...more

like · see review

May 14, 2012 Daquane Brown added it

"Ball Don't Lie" is an interesting book about a boy named Sticky who is growing up in a life which he doesn't expect at all. Sticky is a foster kid who likes to play ball a lot. Every time Sticky is playing basketball there are always guys playing for drugs, selling drugs and playing basketball for the inappropriate ways. He is the only white boy who plays in Lincoln Rec--a recreation center, Sticky keeps his name secret and he cares a lot for a beat-up ball because of his O.C.D and doesn't want...more

like · see review

Dec 18, 2011 Tonner B. rated it 4 of 5 stars

I just got done reaading the book Ball Don't Lie by Matt de la Pena. I gave this book four out of five stars for a rating. The story started out with Sticky, the main character. From there, it starts to build when Sticky goes to play basketball with his friends at an open gym court. From there it starts showing how sticky is becoming more of a thug and troublemaker. The climax is when Sticky mugs a drug dealer and gets shot in the hand. Then the falling action is when Sticky is in the hospital r...more

like · see review

Nov 06, 2011 David Battle rated it 3 of 5 stars

Ball Don't Lie is about a teen named Sticky who loves the sport of basketball. The beginning of the book begins with describing the Lincoln Rec, the place where Sticky plays basketball all the time. When you get past all of that description, then you will get into the good part of the story. The book gives us a history of how Sticky met his girl friend named Anh-thu.Sticky is a person that faces experiences that some teens may face. A great basketball player for his high school team, as well as...more

like · see review

Jan 02, 2011 Mateo rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 9th-grade-ir-books-miller

This book was about a 17 year old bad kid named Sticky. He had been thrown out of way too many foster homes because he's sloppy, doesn't follow the rules his parents, schools, and police give him, and cares only about his friends and basketball. Sticky is the best player in the streets. Almost nobody can block him from getting a dunk. After many wrong decisions like: breaking a window of a ferrari, stealing, drugs, sex, and getting into fights, etc. he finally becomes the basketball superstar he...more

like · see review

Sep 26, 2010 Santo rated it 3 of 5 stars

Ball Don't Lie by Matt de la Pena. This book is realistic fiction. The subject in this book is sticky over coming what happens in is life at home by becoming a better basketball player. This book would be in the realistic fiction genre wise. I would recommend this book to people who like to laugh, who look forward to a little mystery and adventure. Ball Don't lie will keep you turning your pages.

Summarization
Sticky who is a 17 year old white male has spent his life being abused by pimps living w...more

like · see review

Aug 12, 2010 Anna rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-for-boys, fiction, read-in-2010, young-adult

This is Matt de la Pena's first book and I totally love Matt de la Pena but there's a reason why I've been so lazy about reading this one and it's because it's all about BASKETBALL! And, really, I don't have a lot of love for the sport. To me it's kind of boring and, yes, it has action, but I just never really quite figured out how to like it? I don't know but I sort of worried about that aspect of this book. And, sure enough, it wasn't that I didn't enjoy this but I didn't enjoy it as much as h...more

like · see review

Sep 08, 2009 Tyree rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: summer-reading

This book is about a few kids who know everything there is about basketball, the eduation, the history, and the fundamentals. These kids are doing porly in school. Throughtout this book, teachers teach the kids how to focus on school work as much as you focus on basketball.
I can connect to this book because the DEan in my school, he knows me very well and he knows that I play basketball and I do good in class. ANd he also knows that basketball gets caught up in class when it really dosen't nee...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 06, 2013 Fred Merino added it

Ball Don't Lie by Matt De LA Peña is about a boy named Travis but he only goes by sticky. Sticky has been in and out of foster homes since he was little. The only true place he can be happy is the basketball court. He plays basketball at his favorite gym, Lincoln rec, every single day. That is like his home where he can do great and be himself. Sticky is great and basketball and everyone at the gym knows it. Basketball is his only passion and to him his only option. He thinks its either make it...more

like · see review

Jan 15, 2013 Brycen Wojta rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is about a kid named Traiv Reichard, nicknamed Sticky, who's been a foster since a young age. He's a white kid living in a neighborhood where he is the minority and he has a love for the game of basketball. He realizes that basketball might be his ticket out of the streets, but first he needs to realize that he doesn't need to be the person everyone else expects him to be. All this takes place at a local street court, Lincoln Rec, and Sticky begins to see that he can do anything in his...more This book is about a kid named Traiv Reichard, nicknamed Sticky, who's been a foster since a young age. He's a white kid living in a neighborhood where he is the minority and he has a love for the game of basketball. He realizes that basketball might be his ticket out of the streets, but first he needs to realize that he doesn't need to be the person everyone else expects him to be. All this takes place at a local street court, Lincoln Rec, and Sticky begins to see that he can do anything in his life if he puts his mind to it. There are many motifs that can be pulled out of this book, but I will name just a few. One motif I felt was very important was perseverance because no matter what was thrown to him in life he handled it with poise and the situation didn't discourage him. For example, Sticky said, "I could tell you a lot about this game ... How a dark gym like Lincoln Rec is a different world. Full of theft and dunk, smooth jumpers and fragile egos, but you just need to know how to handle it." To me this shows just one of the many examples of how he handles certain situations. Another motif I thought the book was about was determination. I think this because throughout the book he's always practicing his game so he could get to the next level. He was determined to become the best basketball player that he could be no matter what went wrong, where he lived, or who he was dealing with in his life. An example of this was when his girlfriend Anh-thu said, "Whenever we walked through the parks and came across a some baskets on a empty blacktop, Sticky looked at me with pleading eyes. He just couldn't resist it." This shows that Sticky was so determined that whenever he came into sight with a basketbnall hoop that he needed to play. Those are just a couple of the motifs that I feel this book brings out to readers. I think this book was written to entertain the student's ages ranging from the Junior High to the Senior High. Overall this was a really good book and would suggeswt it to kids into sports. (less)

like · see review

Nov 08, 2011 Gino L rated it 5 of 5 stars

I recommend the book “Ball don’t lie” by Matt de la Peña to anyone who likes basketball and can relate to fictionally realistic events, such as stuff that can happen every day to someone.
This book is full of realistic situations, that also include basketball as well. Such as the first page starts with “Dreadlock Man, with his fierce fists and prospect jump shot…” it’s already talking about basketball. Then there’s other pages with more serious things like “ It’s the white devil…” (p.124) which i...more

like · see review

Oct 29, 2012 Meg rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-students

This author is a good writer. I am impressed....but he is definitely a man's writer...and maybe that is sexist, but what I mean is that he goes deep into detail for the sport's moves---and the games...and I find myself lost. The rest of the book is great (and I am sure the other part is good too).

I grabbed this book because I am always looking for literature to share with my students. This writer is current, knows the dialog...knows what he is doing.
This story is about a foster kid trying to s...more

like · see review

Dec 29, 2009 Timothy added it

Shelves: 10th-grade-advisory

Ball Don't Lie
Matt de la Pena
Delacorte Press
280 pages

Ball Don't Lie is a great book about a teen named Sticky who loves the sport of basketball, and lives a life with mixed emotions. The beginning of the book begins with describing the Lincoln Rec, the place where Sticky plays basketball all the time. When you get past all of that description, then you will get into the good part of the story. The book gives us a history of how Sticky met his girl friend named Anh-thu, and almost every moment of...more

like · see review

Oct 19, 2008 Nandy rated it 4 of 5 stars

To me, this book is kind of like an urban legend.
It seemed very different compared 2 any other books I've ever read.
I didn't exactly learn anything from this book other than how to use my grammar correctly.I enjoyed what the book was about but disliked the way it was written.I feel like the way he wrote the dialouge in the book was very superfulous.I guess his rationale was to be a different author in the way he wrote his book.

1 like · like · see review

Apr 01, 2012 Tish rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is way different from the kind of books I usually read and that has its good points and its bad. Good in that I like to "broaden my horizons" and avoid getting in too much of a rut, so I'm glad I read this. Bad? Well, I read the stuff I usually read because that's what I like to read and this just isn't it. The book was well-written, just not my cup of tea. In case you're wondering why I decided to read it in the first place, the author was the month's featured author in one of my grou...more

like · see review

Mar 26, 2011 Cassi aka Snow White Haggard rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, read-in-2011, kindle, favorites, sports

It's somewhere between 4-5 stars. Let's say 4.5 just to pick a number.

Everybody talks about looking for YA books that are boy friendly. People talk about it like it's a mythical creature. Well let me tell you I have found the magical leopluradon. Or I've found an excellent book for boys.

I love basketball. I read this book to compliment all my basketball watching during the month of March. I needed a book I could get excited about, something that could pull my attention away from the NCAA tourna...more It's somewhere between 4-5 stars. Let's say 4.5 just to pick a number.

Everybody talks about looking for YA books that are boy friendly. People talk about it like it's a mythical creature. Well let me tell you I have found the magical leopluradon. Or I've found an excellent book for boys.

I love basketball. I read this book to compliment all my basketball watching during the month of March. I needed a book I could get excited about, something that could pull my attention away from the NCAA tournament. I realize this is probably not a problem most readers have. But I love basketball.

And let me tell you the main reason why I love basketball--the stories. Sports are not just muscular men bashing into each other. Sports stars are kids who grow up chasing a dream. Sometimes they're rich and white (ala Duke) but sometimes they're poor and basketball is their only shot at making something of their life (See Eric Bledsoe). Sometimes there's a player who everyone thinks should be cut, everyone complains about then he suddenly blossoms with talent. There's a reason there are so many sports movies. Sports have some of the best storylines.

Basketball is about heart and hustle, working hard to make something of your life. Sticky encompasses all those things. A foster kid who has been passed around between homes, always returned because somebody doesn't see his value. Basketball gives him value--something he's good at, something he can excel at. Sticky has a lot of heart and he devotes his life to improving his basketball skills.

This book has an excellent voice. Sticky lives a rough and tumble kind of life. He uses slang, improper grammar but the author never overdoes it. Sticky is believable and relatable and never slips into a stereotype. The use of italics rather than quotations bothered me at first, but it was a stylistic choice that I got used to it. The book does use basketball slang but I don't think you have to know that much about basketball to read the book. Probably helps if you watch some games, but it doesn't require D1 playing talent to read (for the record I'm 5 ft tall I watch basketball. I've never played it).

If you hate sports this book probably isn't for you. If you like sports then I say it's worth trying. If you can't get enough basketball like me then it's a must read.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Apr 29, 2010 August Taylor added it

Ball don't lie is about this teenager sticky. The kind of genre that this book would fit is drama because it describes and shows you the types of things that happen through teenage lives. This book also tells of sticky and his basketball career. This is like a novel that you could portray youself in if your in any type of sport such as basketball. The thing that I like most about the author is how he can see and provide imagery throuh he eyes of a teenager because one of the main characters such...more

like · see review

Mar 30, 2009 Joshawa rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who likes struggles to achieve there dreams

Recommended to Joshawa by: myself

ball dont lie was a phenominal book a which sticky a teenager was trying to acheive his goal of becoming a basketball player. sticky had many things up against him such as the streets and racial predjudice. with stickys determination h is able to accomplish his dreams but it took alot of hardwork such as staying in the gym to practice on the weekends. at the same time sticky was deeply involved in the game of the streets being a freshman on a higher varsity team playing and saving a win stickys...more

like · see review

Oct 22, 2012 Matt Brophy rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is for whoever is looking for something completely new to read. Ball Don't Lie is a perfect choice in satisfying you whenever you are looking for that new book.

Ball Don't Lie kept my interested the whole time. There was never a dull point in the book because of all the action. The author used show not tell just at the right moments, like at a fight scene between Sticky and a fellow basketball player, which made the book perfect. I loved the book and would read it again and again. The o...more

like · see review

Feb 26, 2010 Femi Agoha rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was about an orphan child named Travis Reichard but goes by the nickname Sticky. In the book, Sticky goes through a series of foster parents after his birth mother, a woman named Baby commits suicide. Due to these traumatic experiences, Sticky must struggle to complete the jump into manhood by doing what he does best, play basketball. Sticky mainly plays basketball in a Santa Monica, Los Angeles gym called Lincoln Recreation (rec). He also goes through a difficult and painful journey t...more

like · see review

Apr 25, 2012 M Hunt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya

Sticky's story is framed within the world of a seedy, SoCal gym, but the timeline bounces back and forth like a basketball game - like the life of the foster kid Sticky is. He's a finely tuned character with a combination of tics and self-defeating behavior and absolute focus, the origins of which are doled out to the reader in page-turning bits.

I'm not wired for sports, so I struggled with the basketball jargon until I accepted the fact that I wasn't going to get those parts. Given that, the va...more

like · see review

May 18, 2011 Javier rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like · see review

Sep 30, 2011 Jacob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sticky, a 17 year old foster kid has suprisingly basketball skills. Being a white foster kid, living on the streets is tough but these skills give him all the "Street Cred" he will need. If you don't like sports, basketball to be specific, this book is not for you. It has great image, scenes and leaves you with great a pictureleft behind. It really seconds your thoughts about this boy from the begining to the end. Although he has made wrong decisions, he does still become what he dreamed of, a s...more

like · see review

Mar 30, 2009 Yolaina=YOLi rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

1 like · like · see review

Dec 02, 2010 Bri Crowe rated it 3 of 5 stars

I think this book was pretty good. It was a tad confusing at certain parts because the book switched from an earlier point in Sticky's life to a more recent part of his life. The thing I liked the most about the novel was that you could actually feel as if you were in the book following Sticky's life. It was so realistic and sad for the most part. He went in and out of foster homes and his only outlet was playing basketball. It took a lot for him to fit in but he gained support throught some oth...more

like · see review

Jul 26, 2011 Jo Whittemore rated it 5 of 5 stars

Had wanted to read this one for months (to help with a project of my own) and wish I hadn't taken so long to get to it.
People fixate on the basketball angle and they either like or dislike because of it, but if you see the story from a broader perspective, it speaks much more.
I can relate to Sticky's idiosyncrasies and his (for lack of a better term) obsession with being the best at what he's good at, hoping it'll be enough to get him somewhere. There's a passion and a need to excel I totally u...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 29 30 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (6)

More editions...

Genres

Young Adult

28 users

Sports And Games > Sports

25 users

Realistic Fiction

8 users

Sports > Basketball

4 users

Young Adult > Teen

4 users

Young Adult > High School

3 users

Novels

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

Rucker Park Setup
by Paul Volponi
High Heat
by Carl Deuker
Crackback
by John Coy
Knights of the Hill Country
by Tim Tharp
Why I Fight
by J. Adams Oaks

About Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Peña’s debut novel, Ball Don’t Lie, was an ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young Adults and an ALA-YALSA Quick Pick and is soon to be released as a motion picture starring Ludacris, Nick Cannon, Emelie de Ravin, Grayson Boucher, and Rosanna Arquette (based on the screenplay he co-wrote with director Brin Hill). de la Peña’s second novel, Mexican WhiteBoy, was an ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young Ad...more

More about Matt de la Pena...

Books by Matt de la Pena

A Nation's Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis

Curse of the Ancients (Infinity Ring #4)

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Ball Don't Lie

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: Ball Don't Lie
avg rating	preview: Ball Don't Lie Goodreads rating: 3.84 (432 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/357795.Ball_Don_t_Lie?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320422362l/357795.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/357795.Ball_Don_t_Lie?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Ball Don't Lie by Matt de la Pena[/url]

Ball Don't Lie

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website