On the Court with Kobe Bryant

by Matt Christopher, Glenn Stout

The #1 sports series for kids takes readers on the court and behind the scenes with beloved NBA icon Kobe Bryant in this inspiring biography.



The son of Joe "Jellybean" Bryant, a former NBA player and star of various European teams, Kobe spent his childhood watching professional basketball. From the moment he could pick up a ball, he was learning to dribble and shoot. His basketball education was unique--a combination of lessons on basic fundamentals, one-on-one games against his dad, and observation and analysis of the world's best players.



At age eighteen, Kobe was given the chance to prove his skills when he was drafted into the NBA. Fresh out of high school, Kobe showed that he had the talent and heart to make it in the pros.


This biography traces Kobe's life from childhood to his part in the Lakers' 2000 NBA championship, giving readers a courtside seat to the greatest achievements of one of basketball's legends.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Biography

96 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2001

About the author

Matt Christopher is the writer young readers turn to when they're looking for fast-paced, action-packed sports novels. He is the best-selling author of more than one hundred sports books for young readers.

Matt Christopher is America's bestselling sports writer for children, with more than 100 books and sales approaching six million copies. In 1992, Matt Christopher talked about being a children's book author.

"I became interested in writing when I was 14, a freshman in high school. I was selling magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Country Gentleman, and Liberty, and I would read the stories, particularly the adventure and mystery stories, and think how wonderful it would be to be able to write stories and make a living at it. I also read detective, horror, aviation, and sports stories and decided I would try writing them myself.

Determined to sell, I wrote a detective story a week for 40 weeks, finding the time to marry, work, and play baseball and basketball before I sold my first story in 1941, "The Missing Finger Points," for $50 to Detective Story magazine.

After writing and selling children's sports stories to magazines, I decided to write a baseball book for children. I was living in Syracuse, New York at the time, working at General Electric. I spoke about my idea to the branch librarian. She was immediately interested and told me that they needed sports stories badly. So I came up with my first children's book, The Lucky Baseball Bat. I submitted it to Little, Brown, and the book was published in 1954.

I'm sure that playing sandlot baseball and then semiprofessional baseball with a Class C club in the Canadian-American League influenced my writing. I had my own personal experiences, and I saw how other players reacted to plays, to teammates' and fans' remarks and innuendoes, to managers' orders, etc. All these had a great influence on my writing. My love of the game helped a lot, too, of course.

Out of all the books I've written, my favorite is The Kid Who Only Hit Homers. It's a fantasy, but the main character in it could be real. There are a lot of boys who would love to play baseball but, for some reason, cannot. The only difference between a real-life boy and Sylvester Coddmyer III is the appearance of a character named George Baruth, whom only Sylvester can see and who helps Sylvester become a good ballplayer.

I've written many short stories and books for both children and adults, and find that writing for children is really my niche. Being the eldest of nine children (seven boys and two girls), I've lived through a lot of problems many children live through, and I find these problems excellent examples to include in my books.

Sports have made it possible for me to meet many people with all sorts of life stories, on and off the field, and these are grist for this writer's mill. I'm far beyond playing age now, but I manage to go to both kids' and adult games just to keep up with them, and keep them fresh in my mind.Very few things make me happier than receiving fan letters from boys and girls who write that they had never cared for reading until they started to read my books. That is just about the ultimate in writing for children. I would never trade it for another profession."

Matt Christopher died on September 27, 1997. His legacy is now being carried on by his sons, Duane and Dale Christopher.

Reviews

[Adrienna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is for a younger audience, easy read, and finished in one sitting. It shares his early years of life, and father's career (Joe Jellybean Bryant) was nothing like his son's career: Kobe Bryant. The rest of the book focuses on moving back to the states, Philly, when he is in the 8th grade. He didn't understand the lingo, slang, and when other guys were teasing him, bullying, etc. but he did know basketball. He challenged his bully-er with a game, won of course, and later joined the basketball team at his high school. He was picked up early, 19 yrs old, noted for his skills around 17. Basketball thereafter.

Aside from Michael Jordan (MJ), Kobe Bryant was one of my fave players. I did meet Scottie Pippin in person, who he mentioned once with MJ. I would've like to see more of them.

I borrowed a copy from work library and giving my honest review.

[kb · Rating 3 out of 5]

This children's book offers a court side look to the beginnings of this basketball legend, sprinkled w/ dad-son relationship. Rereading it was a little heartbreaking, but might still pick up 'Showboat'* soon because what a passion. May everyone on that flight rest in peace.

*My brother's a fan, and the basketball books are his.




Everything I read in 2020 here :)

[Jacky Choi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a Kobe Bryant career life,I read this book because I am a super fan of Kobe Bryant and I really like the mentality of Kobe have and this book can let me more about Kobe like his five
championships,eighty one point game something like that and what will he at his daily life I think Kobe career is really interesting I will recommend this book to all of the Kobe fan I must sure they will love it hope you love to watch it thanks.

[Owen McGriff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a kid named Kobe Bryant who loves the beautiful game of basketball, as Kobe ages he learns and gets better at basketball. When he gets into high school he specifies that he wants to play for the high school basketball team. When his senior year of high school is over he says he wants to skip college and take his talent to the NBA.

[Wilfred Chilangwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had a lot of information that was interesting to learn. The book was similar to a fiction book in the sense that there was always something important that the character needed to accomplish and the reader was wondering what was going to happen.

[Luke Pfaff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really good at explaining the life of Kobe Bryant. It explained his child hood and his NBA career. It also told the reader about his family and his background. And so i think it is a good book.

[Michele Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our oldest son was having trouble finding ELA books to read, and when I asked his teacher if I could get him books of his interests, she agreed. Needless to say, he read this one and did the essay happily. We've since used the book for our other son and nephews.

[Trey Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the court with Kobe Bryant By Matt Christopher. This book was about Kobe Bryant with his life on and off the court. He tells about his life in Europe and how it was difficult for him to live in another country. My favorite part of the book is when they won there 3rd championship in a row. The coach had a made a formation to combine Kobe and Shaq that was unstoppable. the reason it was unstoppable is because he took to superstars and combined them so they were both the center of the offense.

This book taught me that being good at something dons't make you better then anybody. Just because you are a superstar dons't mean you have to act like you are better then everyone. This book and the story of Kobe's life taught me another thing that you can make your own decisions and you have control of your life. When everyone told him to go to college he felt it was right to bring his talents right to the NBA. I recomend this book to anyone who is a sports fan.

[Gabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Math Christopher is an great author when it comes to his meetings with all kinds of athletes. Kobe is one of the greatest basketball players who played in the NBA for 20 years. This book explains Kobe mental aspect of the game. Kobe is one of the most hardest working players as he wakes up at 4 am everyday just to train before the real practice begins and the game later on. Matt had good pictures but could of added more and have Kobe speak more in the book. It was a good book to learn about Kobe.

[Zen V · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about the NBA legend, Kobe Bryant and his life his struggles that he goes through since he was a little kid to him now. There are a lot of ups and downs, deaths, bullying,etc. how he never gives up, and how he followed his father's footsteps to get to where he is today.

It's a amazing book for the basketball fans, it really shows that some peoples live are not always the way it looks like.

[Nathan Tovey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that this book was very exciting because I just think that it is amazing that he went straight to the NBA from high school. When he was little he used to live in Italy and at recess he used to play shadow ball and all he did was play against him self. I really recommend this book to basketball fans or someone who wants a good story.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for my READ 180 class. It was actually a pretty interesting biographpy written by a great children's author. Matt Christopher keeps my interest. My boys that I teach will love this nonfiction book.

[Wilson Calvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about the life of kobe bryant.When kobe was young he was around the basketball life because he father Joe was in NBA.So when joe was older he played overseas so kobe had to move to italy,but he started playing basketball at a young age.

[Randall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE this book.Its about a future hall of famer Kobe Bean Bryant.Kobe was a 17 year old when he was drafted.His dad was a former NBA Player. Kobe lived to Italy when he was a kid.Want more...READ THE BOOK!!!

[Henri Zimenoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

The reason I rated 5 on this book because of Matt talked about Kobe's journey into his high school days, to the NBA days which was a wild ride. It tells his story about Kobe Bryant's story very well. Some parts were a bit slow, but good book anyway.

[Semaj Franklin · Rating 5 out of 5]

i want to learn about this book

[Pj Neubauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kobe is a hard-working player, thats why he has so many championships

[Elijah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fun and interesting to read if you enjoy basketball i would recommend this to you, or if you just want to learn more about Kobe Bryant.

[Darzell hoop or die walker]

i want to read this book

[Denzel]

it waz cool

[Cass King · Rating 4 out of 5]

the book was good it talked about kobe when he was the best player. I couldn't believe he got traded. he change his number to be one higher the Jordan.