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Hoops #3
Out of Bounds
From WNBA MVP, Olympic gold medalist, and global ambassador to the Special Olympics Elena Delle Donne comes the third novel in a middle grade series with as much heart as there is game.
Elle is finally finding her groove and is excited about how her year is turning out. But when her team loses a major game against their rivals, Elle doesn’t know if basketball is worth it anymore. It feels like she can’t win—even when she’s improving and doing well, everyone always expects more from her.
With her changing attitudes on basketball, will she let everyone she knows down if she decides to take a break?
Elle is finally finding her groove and is excited about how her year is turning out. But when her team loses a major game against their rivals, Elle doesn’t know if basketball is worth it anymore. It feels like she can’t win—even when she’s improving and doing well, everyone always expects more from her.
With her changing attitudes on basketball, will she let everyone she knows down if she decides to take a break?
176 pages, Hardcover
First published October 16, 2018
About the author
Elena Delle Donne
8 books15 followersAn American professional basketball player for the Washington Mystics of the WNBA. Lead them to their first WNBA Championship in franchise history in 2019.
2015 & 2019 WNBA MVP and 2016 Olympic gold medalist.
2015 & 2019 WNBA MVP and 2016 Olympic gold medalist.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 12, 2020
Third in the series following the super tall seventh grade basketball player.
That 'super tall' part is annoying Elle. Specifically where everyone assumes she will continue playing basketball, go to a specific college, then enter the WNBA. Simply because she is tall. Which, as noted, annoys Elle. That people are already planning out her life without her input. And she's only 12. In addition, her coach is really annoying her. Especially when she plays super well and all the coach talks about is the other things she could be doing. No praise, just whiny complaints.
Basketball is not fun any more for Elle.
Another good solid book.
Rating: 3.77
That 'super tall' part is annoying Elle. Specifically where everyone assumes she will continue playing basketball, go to a specific college, then enter the WNBA. Simply because she is tall. Which, as noted, annoys Elle. That people are already planning out her life without her input. And she's only 12. In addition, her coach is really annoying her. Especially when she plays super well and all the coach talks about is the other things she could be doing. No praise, just whiny complaints.
Basketball is not fun any more for Elle.
Another good solid book.
Rating: 3.77
September 15, 2018
“Out of Bounds” is the third in WNBA stand out Elena Donne’s basketball series called Hoops. I have already purchased books one and two for both my fourth and fifth grade libraries and will place this one on my next book order. Throughout the series, main character Elle has struggled to balance family, friends, basketball, and extra-curricular activities. Elle expresses her doubts and joys well and in a way that will resound with middle grade students and just might give them some encouragement and solid advice to be used in their own lives. While Donne’s series is listed by some websites as a LGBTQ choice, likely due to the author’s publicly expressed lifestyle, the author does not introduce any potentially controversial elements into this excellent series for students in grades 4-6. With its modest length, smooth reading and clear plot, these books make a great choice for the more reluctant reader who needs a push past the Jake Maddox type sports books. Thanks for the dARC, Edelweiss.
January 28, 2019
This is the third book in the Hoops series. Since the story builds from one book to the next, it's best to read it as a series.
Elle is settling into the basketball swing of things again but is running into more and more troubles with one of her teammates, who wishes she had Elle's position. It doesn't help that Coach keeps singling Elle out. To make matters worse, Elle's best friend starts skipping out on her to visit this same teammate and might even be dating her soon. Being taunted from every direction is slowly more than Elle can handle, and she's not sure she wants to put up with any of it anymore.
Elle is easy to connect with and feel for. While she has a huge interest in basketball, she has other things going on in her life as well. The idea of a scheduling app, which shows up in this book, is something many kids will relate to. But what makes Elle special is that she is kind, loving and simply a good person. The problems she faces are very realistic and things the average reader can identify with. While the basketball and sports aspect is very strong, it's not enough to push away even those readers who don't necessarily play sports themselves. The problems Elle faces can be found in other areas of life too, making this a read for any middle school girl.
The writing flows very smoothly and does a nice, constant switch from basketball to a normal kid's life. Especially the younger end will enjoy the easy to read sentences. While the plot flows well, it does slow down at times during Elle's home scenes and allows the average life to come forward too. Unfortunately, this book ends without a resolution to Elle's problem, and instead leaves off for the next book to continue. It's a nice series, especially for sport minded girls.
I received a complimentary copy and enjoyed reading this book enough to want to leave my honest thoughts.
Elle is settling into the basketball swing of things again but is running into more and more troubles with one of her teammates, who wishes she had Elle's position. It doesn't help that Coach keeps singling Elle out. To make matters worse, Elle's best friend starts skipping out on her to visit this same teammate and might even be dating her soon. Being taunted from every direction is slowly more than Elle can handle, and she's not sure she wants to put up with any of it anymore.
Elle is easy to connect with and feel for. While she has a huge interest in basketball, she has other things going on in her life as well. The idea of a scheduling app, which shows up in this book, is something many kids will relate to. But what makes Elle special is that she is kind, loving and simply a good person. The problems she faces are very realistic and things the average reader can identify with. While the basketball and sports aspect is very strong, it's not enough to push away even those readers who don't necessarily play sports themselves. The problems Elle faces can be found in other areas of life too, making this a read for any middle school girl.
The writing flows very smoothly and does a nice, constant switch from basketball to a normal kid's life. Especially the younger end will enjoy the easy to read sentences. While the plot flows well, it does slow down at times during Elle's home scenes and allows the average life to come forward too. Unfortunately, this book ends without a resolution to Elle's problem, and instead leaves off for the next book to continue. It's a nice series, especially for sport minded girls.
I received a complimentary copy and enjoyed reading this book enough to want to leave my honest thoughts.
February 26, 2019
This is the third book in the Hoops series. Since the story builds from one book to the next, it's best to read it as a series.
Elle is settling into the basketball swing of things again but is running into more and more troubles with one of her teammates, who wishes she had Elle's position. It doesn't help that Coach keeps singling Elle out. To make matters worse, Elle's best friend starts skipping out on her to visit this same teammate and might even be dating her soon. Being taunted from every direction is slowly more than Elle can handle, and she's not sure she wants to put up with any of it anymore.
Elle is easy to connect with and feel for. While she has a huge interest in basketball, she has other things going on in her life as well. The idea of a scheduling app, which shows up in this book, is something many kids will relate to. But what makes Elle special is that she is kind, loving and simply a good person. The problems she faces are very realistic and things the average reader can identify with. While the basketball and sports aspect is very strong, it's not enough to push away even those readers who don't necessarily play sports themselves. The problems Elle faces can be found in other areas of life too, making this a read for any middle school girl.
The writing flows very smoothly and does a nice, constant switch from basketball to a normal kid's life. Especially the younger end will enjoy the easy to read sentences. While the plot flows well, it does slow down at times during Elle's home scenes and allows the average life to come forward too. Unfortunately, this book ends without a resolution to Elle's problem, and instead leaves off for the next book to continue. It's a nice series, especially for sport minded girls.
I received a complimentary copy and enjoyed the story quite a bit.
Elle is settling into the basketball swing of things again but is running into more and more troubles with one of her teammates, who wishes she had Elle's position. It doesn't help that Coach keeps singling Elle out. To make matters worse, Elle's best friend starts skipping out on her to visit this same teammate and might even be dating her soon. Being taunted from every direction is slowly more than Elle can handle, and she's not sure she wants to put up with any of it anymore.
Elle is easy to connect with and feel for. While she has a huge interest in basketball, she has other things going on in her life as well. The idea of a scheduling app, which shows up in this book, is something many kids will relate to. But what makes Elle special is that she is kind, loving and simply a good person. The problems she faces are very realistic and things the average reader can identify with. While the basketball and sports aspect is very strong, it's not enough to push away even those readers who don't necessarily play sports themselves. The problems Elle faces can be found in other areas of life too, making this a read for any middle school girl.
The writing flows very smoothly and does a nice, constant switch from basketball to a normal kid's life. Especially the younger end will enjoy the easy to read sentences. While the plot flows well, it does slow down at times during Elle's home scenes and allows the average life to come forward too. Unfortunately, this book ends without a resolution to Elle's problem, and instead leaves off for the next book to continue. It's a nice series, especially for sport minded girls.
I received a complimentary copy and enjoyed the story quite a bit.
March 29, 2021
(I'm providing the same review for all four of these books that I've read)
Straightforward and sincere middle-grade girls' sports-and-middle-school books, each with a central plot engine about getting to know what you actually want and going after it. A big cast of characters and relationships, all nicely drawn. A nice through-line about feeling the pressure of people's expectations when you feel they aren't based on reality, as Elle, the central character, is so tall that everyone assumes she'll play basketball without paying attention to whether or not she's good and she has to manage how she reacts to people being right but for the wrong reason. Bonus points for some gentle same-sex attraction -- I lol'ed in the fourth book at the deadpan "Then everyone started talking about cute boys at the school, and I tuned out." As so often in these books, the wants and needs aren't subtle or hard to work out -- people tell rather than show, or at its best they tell *and* show -- and everything is typically resolved by speaking up and being honest. The one shortcoming is that as far as I remember, the teams that Elle is on win every game they play, which is always a bit of a distraction for me when I notice it in sports books. Let your characters lose sometimes!
Straightforward and sincere middle-grade girls' sports-and-middle-school books, each with a central plot engine about getting to know what you actually want and going after it. A big cast of characters and relationships, all nicely drawn. A nice through-line about feeling the pressure of people's expectations when you feel they aren't based on reality, as Elle, the central character, is so tall that everyone assumes she'll play basketball without paying attention to whether or not she's good and she has to manage how she reacts to people being right but for the wrong reason. Bonus points for some gentle same-sex attraction -- I lol'ed in the fourth book at the deadpan "Then everyone started talking about cute boys at the school, and I tuned out." As so often in these books, the wants and needs aren't subtle or hard to work out -- people tell rather than show, or at its best they tell *and* show -- and everything is typically resolved by speaking up and being honest. The one shortcoming is that as far as I remember, the teams that Elle is on win every game they play, which is always a bit of a distraction for me when I notice it in sports books. Let your characters lose sometimes!
September 10, 2020
A book about a young girl named Ellie who is playing basketball. But starts to feel like feel too much pressure and wonders is maybe she should just quit basketball.
March 26, 2019
A very quick read and great for my reading slump. I hadn't read the other books before this one so I wasn't as invested as other fans of the series might be. I liked the story and the protagonist was likeable but the book did feel a little rushed or maybe it felt that way because the book was short. In the end it did get me over my reading slump and I would recommend it to basketball fans.
Rating: 3 Stars
Rating: 3 Stars
Want to Read
December 10, 2018I received a copy of this book from Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Read
February 21, 2019DNF so will not rate. Was hoping to see more of the main character's classmate crush but not even a word when they held hands at basketball practice. Disappointing,
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews