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Long Shot for Paul
Glenn Marlett is determined to make his brother Paul, who is developmentally disabled, a decent basketball player.
155 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1966
11 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
Matt Christopher
438 books141 followersMatt 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 6, 2020
I love the sport of basketball even though I don't have my own hoop yet. This is the best book I have read of all my 101 books I have read. I am excited to read some more books by Matt Christopher about other sports. And I hope that I get a lot more of these books! This book had three characters in it. The characters were Paul, Judy, and Glenn. Paul is not a very good player, but he is learning how to play. My favorite part was when all the people gathered around and watched the basketball players. I like this book because I want to be a basketball player when I grow up.
April 6, 2014
PROs
* Moral story that would have a positive influence for young minds
CONs
* Zero character development
* Not enough focus on the main character, Paul
* Extremely repetitive basketball games
* Unrealistic, almost laughable dialog
* No suspense during the games
* Predictable plot
* One dimensional characters
Before I begin the review, it is obvious that this book is not catered toward people who want an in depth reading experience, but for young teens whose parents want them to treat disabled kids nicely. That is fine, but it left much to be desired for a more experienced reader, hence the low score.
My main complaint with the book is the lack of character development, especially for Paul, the focus of the book. It tells us that he is "developmentally disabled", but it goes into next to no detail on to the extent or how this adversely impacts his life. The most description we get is that he parents have found that he's "slow to learn things" and he seems to have slightly worse reaction times than kids around his age.
The plot of the book is that Glenn, Paul's brother, wants to train him to play basketball. Paul eventually joins Glenn's team, which we learn nothing about (is it for his school? A rec league?). You can probably guess how the book progresses from here. Paul makes the occasional mistake, but neither his family nor the coach ever gets frustrated; they are always perfectly content. It would be nice to see some real emotion here... Maybe Glenn getting frustrated and takes his anger out on Paul, only to realize his mistake and in turn, try to make it up to him. But we get nothing of the sort. Another complaint that takes away from the realism is the dialogue, particularly that of the kids. These guys are supposed to be budding teens, and they use insults like "birdface". I'm pretty sure if I called someone "birdface" when I was 13, far from people laughing at my unique 'insult', I would have been taken behind a dumpster and mugged. In other words, these kids simply are not as mean in the novel as they are in real life. The author probably didn't want to add any questionable material in a book for kids, but they see and hear it every day in school. I don't think pretending the issue doesn't exist is going to help.
Strangely, instead of the book centering on Paul, who says about two full sentences the entire book (we never learn how he's feeling), the book spends most of its time on the basketball games, which Paul rarely gets to play in. Once you've read about one game, you've read them all; they are practically identical.
Overall, I wish this book took a deeper look at Paul's developmental problems and his emotional outlook rather than basketball games. It gave too many facile answers to deep problems.
* Moral story that would have a positive influence for young minds
CONs
* Zero character development
* Not enough focus on the main character, Paul
* Extremely repetitive basketball games
* Unrealistic, almost laughable dialog
* No suspense during the games
* Predictable plot
* One dimensional characters
Before I begin the review, it is obvious that this book is not catered toward people who want an in depth reading experience, but for young teens whose parents want them to treat disabled kids nicely. That is fine, but it left much to be desired for a more experienced reader, hence the low score.
My main complaint with the book is the lack of character development, especially for Paul, the focus of the book. It tells us that he is "developmentally disabled", but it goes into next to no detail on to the extent or how this adversely impacts his life. The most description we get is that he parents have found that he's "slow to learn things" and he seems to have slightly worse reaction times than kids around his age.
The plot of the book is that Glenn, Paul's brother, wants to train him to play basketball. Paul eventually joins Glenn's team, which we learn nothing about (is it for his school? A rec league?). You can probably guess how the book progresses from here. Paul makes the occasional mistake, but neither his family nor the coach ever gets frustrated; they are always perfectly content. It would be nice to see some real emotion here... Maybe Glenn getting frustrated and takes his anger out on Paul, only to realize his mistake and in turn, try to make it up to him. But we get nothing of the sort. Another complaint that takes away from the realism is the dialogue, particularly that of the kids. These guys are supposed to be budding teens, and they use insults like "birdface". I'm pretty sure if I called someone "birdface" when I was 13, far from people laughing at my unique 'insult', I would have been taken behind a dumpster and mugged. In other words, these kids simply are not as mean in the novel as they are in real life. The author probably didn't want to add any questionable material in a book for kids, but they see and hear it every day in school. I don't think pretending the issue doesn't exist is going to help.
Strangely, instead of the book centering on Paul, who says about two full sentences the entire book (we never learn how he's feeling), the book spends most of its time on the basketball games, which Paul rarely gets to play in. Once you've read about one game, you've read them all; they are practically identical.
Overall, I wish this book took a deeper look at Paul's developmental problems and his emotional outlook rather than basketball games. It gave too many facile answers to deep problems.
May 24, 2013
"Long Shot for Paul" had a very interesting plot. Glenn wants to make his little brother Paul, who is mentally challenged, become a good basketball player. Glenn's main goal is to get Paul on his basketball team. I recommend this book to all ages because of the great values you can learn from it, and it is easy to read.
March 3, 2012
The name of this book is Long Shot For Paul by Matt Christopher. This book is about two boys named Paul, and Glenn. Glenn is a basket ball player who is already in a great team, and can make a lot of friends. However, Paul his younger brother is disabled so it takes a long time for him to learn everything. As this story goes on Glenn is desperate to make Paul a great basket ball player like him. Even if Paul was playing, some of Glenn's team would dissaprove of Paul because he makes mistakes like putting the ball in his own teams baskets. Will Paul ever be a true great basket ball player his family wants him to be or will he fail just as some people do.
Glenn is a patient person because every time his team mates got mad at Paul he always helped him try to get better each week. Another time Glenn was patient was when Paul got upset when his friend didn't play with him Glenn always said that he can't play with his own friends because Paul wasn't really happy. This showed me that Glenn was a really caring person because he always cared for Paul even if Paul was mad at him. Glenn is also a intellingent person because after he made a mistake he always tried more carefully the next time so he can earn more points for his team. Another time Glenn was intelligent was when he thought carefully what to do before shooting the ball or paasssing it. This showed the difference of Paul, and Glenn because Glenn always tries harder the next time while Paul can easily get angry, and start pouting. Maybe Paul is so different from Glenn because he never played with people who were in a higher rank than him. If Glenn had experience at doing basketball with higher rank people. I wonder if he ever noticed that Paul was struggling.
This book is a book filled with lots of action in basketball, and a story filled with learning from each other. One part where it is filled with lots of action is when Paul is shooting in the basket which made the other team gets more points. This showed lots of action because it squeezed in every detail until the very end. Another time it showed action in basketball was when Glenn was passing the ball to his mates. This book also showed about learning about each other when Glenn played a note in piano. This part showed about learning from each other because his siser said that he should take piano lessons from Paul. This showed me strange because I thought Paul was the slower learner, and Glenn was more quick, and smart. Maybe Paul could teach Glenn because he was learning piano from his parents way before Glenn even played the not. Since, Paul got the piano on Christmas.
This book is energetic, and exciting. I recommend this book for people who love basketball,and want to learn more about how stars really doit like passing, and throwing. If Paul can be a player you can to with this book!
Glenn is a patient person because every time his team mates got mad at Paul he always helped him try to get better each week. Another time Glenn was patient was when Paul got upset when his friend didn't play with him Glenn always said that he can't play with his own friends because Paul wasn't really happy. This showed me that Glenn was a really caring person because he always cared for Paul even if Paul was mad at him. Glenn is also a intellingent person because after he made a mistake he always tried more carefully the next time so he can earn more points for his team. Another time Glenn was intelligent was when he thought carefully what to do before shooting the ball or paasssing it. This showed the difference of Paul, and Glenn because Glenn always tries harder the next time while Paul can easily get angry, and start pouting. Maybe Paul is so different from Glenn because he never played with people who were in a higher rank than him. If Glenn had experience at doing basketball with higher rank people. I wonder if he ever noticed that Paul was struggling.
This book is a book filled with lots of action in basketball, and a story filled with learning from each other. One part where it is filled with lots of action is when Paul is shooting in the basket which made the other team gets more points. This showed lots of action because it squeezed in every detail until the very end. Another time it showed action in basketball was when Glenn was passing the ball to his mates. This book also showed about learning about each other when Glenn played a note in piano. This part showed about learning from each other because his siser said that he should take piano lessons from Paul. This showed me strange because I thought Paul was the slower learner, and Glenn was more quick, and smart. Maybe Paul could teach Glenn because he was learning piano from his parents way before Glenn even played the not. Since, Paul got the piano on Christmas.
This book is energetic, and exciting. I recommend this book for people who love basketball,and want to learn more about how stars really doit like passing, and throwing. If Paul can be a player you can to with this book!
March 18, 2011
Matt Christopher was my favorite author growing up because he wrote about kids playing sports. However, I reread this book after reading it years ago and it was so much more than just kids playing sports. In this particular book, the main character, Glenn, has a mentally challenged younger brother named Paul and Glenn gets Paul to play on his basketball team. As a young one reading this, I remember focusing on the detailed writing of in-game action. As an adult, I focused on the fact that Paul was disabled in a way and focused on how others treated him and how his brother Glenn went out of his way to make Paul feel like one of the guys. I don't know how I missed that the first time through. This book struck a chord with me because I can relate eerily close. I too have an older brother who was a better athlete than mewhen we were younger (the roles have reversed now days...:-)) and I would tag along with him to his practices. Like all Matt Christopher books, this book has a happy ending and makes you feel warm inside. It makes me want to scrounge around in my basement and see if I ca dig up anymore of his books cause I owned a lot of them as a kid and I know they're around somewhere.
Only thing I would've changed is that the sports terminology doesn't get explained for someone who doesn't follow the sport. I had no problem because I'm an avid basketball fan. But I was able to realize that if someone didn't know basketball that well, there would be somethings that would make the reader go "huh?"
Only thing I would've changed is that the sports terminology doesn't get explained for someone who doesn't follow the sport. I had no problem because I'm an avid basketball fan. But I was able to realize that if someone didn't know basketball that well, there would be somethings that would make the reader go "huh?"
April 7, 2009
Hi my name is taneysha and i am a 14 year old seventh grader who love to read.iI picked this book b/c basketball is my favorite sport so i wanted to read about him and see what his thoughts were on playing basketball.I was pausing every 10 minutes to see what he was picturing or not understanding about by they stole the ball.i love this book it gave me good information about my sport that i can beat joey in.you can find this book in woody libary aka ms.woodard.Do you think he got it or not get it?
July 11, 2009
Matt Christopher is a great author for kids. This book especially is one of those ones that sticks out in my mind.
Glenn teaches his mentally disabled brother Paul to play basketball in their driveway, and Paul eventually makes it onto the local team. More than being about sports, this book is about acceptance and learning to appreciate people for who they are.
Anything by Matt Christopher is great for kids, especially if they are sports fanatics.
Glenn teaches his mentally disabled brother Paul to play basketball in their driveway, and Paul eventually makes it onto the local team. More than being about sports, this book is about acceptance and learning to appreciate people for who they are.
Anything by Matt Christopher is great for kids, especially if they are sports fanatics.
February 24, 2016
I thought it was a great book and I wish the library had more of them like it. I love sports and this was a really good sports book. This author made tons of books dealing with sports and I wish I could read them.
September 28, 2011
It is about a boy who wants to play basketball but other kids pick on him because he can only read on a third grade
January 20, 2012
Bad book
December 13, 2013
It was an okay book. The plot didn't really have me into in to it. They should've made more than one plot.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews