The Million Dollar Shot (Million Dollar Series) [Turtleback]

The Million Dollar Shot

The Million Dollar Shot is just one of many great sports books by Dan Gutman. Once you pick it up, you will not want to stop. Eddie's mom hates her job, and she does not like her boss at all. He laid her off her job, and she thinks she should get it back. But meanwhile Eddie and Annie are trying to get into this NBA free throw contest in New York City. Annie loves to write poems, and Eddie loves to play basketball. Eddie enters this contest to try to help his mom by getting her job back so that means wining the million dollars, but getting in he has to write a poem and Annie helps him do that. Annie loves to write poems and Eddie loves to play basketball. Eddie and Annie live in the same trailer park so they get to know one another. Annie is a nice friend to send in her own poem. They both like each other really well. They both are really nice to each other. This is just one of great realistic fiction. The conflict in the book is between Eddies mom and her boss/Job, and also between Eddie and wining the million dollars and get his moms Job back. This book is 5th grade and up reading level. Does Eddie Sink the shot that could when him millions? Find out by reading The Million Dollar Shot.

Although this is a book about a boy successful in sports, it is much more in terms of social commentary. Eddie Ball is a young boy living with his mother in a small trailer; since his father died they have been struggling to survive financially. Annie is a young African-American girl whose mother died when she was young so she lives with her father in another trailer. Both parents work for the Finkle snack company, Finkles are high calorie and fat snack foods and it is one of the town's main employers. Annie and Eddie become best friends almost immediately, creating problems between Eddie and his male friends.
The Finkle company holds a contest where young people submit their poems and the winner will be allowed to shoot one foul shot during halftime of the first game of the NBA finals. If the shot is made, the shooter wins a million dollars; a miss and they get nothing more than their expenses for the trip. While Eddie has no talent for poetry, Annie does and she writes a simple poem that Eddie submits under his own name. Eddie wins the contest and he begins preparations for his big chance. Annie's father is a former college basketball star so he becomes Eddie's coach. Both Eddie's and Annie's parents are laid off from their jobs, giving Eddie even more incentive to make the shot.
Eddie goes through some difficult times, the owner of the Finkle Company offers Eddie a bribe to deliberately miss the shot and there is some additional harassment. Through it all, Eddie learns a lot about the need to work for success and he faces the challenge very well. He is thrown off a bit when he sees his mother and Annie's father embracing as he does not want to give up the memory of his father.
The strength of this book is in the social commentary, the simple friendship between Eddie and Annie, the treatment of the interracial romance as just another romance and the dirty tricks of a corporate personality all are problems faced daily in the United States. In this book, they are treated as context to the real story, which allows them to be a significant part of the story, yet be dealt with in a realistic and less intense manner.

The Million Dollar Shot is an excellent book that's very exciting. There was a lot of suspense and every chapter left 'the ball hanging in mid air.' I give this book and it's author five stars!!