Review sponsored* by Lissa Webber
The Children’s Book Review | March 4, 2019
EZ and the Intangibles
Written by Bob Katz
Age Range: 9-12
Hardcover: 150 pages
Publisher: Regal House Publishing (November 1, 2018)
ISBN-13: 978-1947548183
What to expect: Basketball, Family, Friendship, and Truth
Alley-Oop! Ez and the Intangibles grabs the reader and dunks them right into this sports-story-with-a-valuable-twist.
Ethan Zanay loves math and reading. He lives in sports-crazy Longview, town of the 1992 Division III Basketball Champs and the 2003 Division III Region 9 Basketball Champs. Starting with his initials, EZ, that do not lend well to team banter—easy to fool and easyto ignore, etc.—Ethan struggles to fill the shoes he wholeheartedly desires to fill. His dad was the Most Valuable Player of the 1992 championship team; and his brother Zach is 2 years younger, almost taller, and incredibly good at sports. When his father is sent to prison for a bad business deal that involved money loaned from the town’s people, his home life changes a little and he finds he has time on his hands to practice his basketball skills over the summer. Determined to make the sixth grade basketball team, Ethan ends up in a surprising position that sparks the power of truth and friendship.
Bob Katz has worked magic with this story. He has entwined exciting basketball plays with engaging math and statistics, and mentions of classic literature draw intelligent life parallels and, at times, mystique. “Sitting there, it brought to mind a book I’d read called The Giving Tree. The book was sad, but I appreciated the way the tree looked out for the boy as time went by and they both grew older. It would be cool to have something as solid and trustworthy as a tree looking out for you.”
This is a rather exciting middle grade novel for basketball enthusiasts and proves that the true stars of a game might not always be the most obvious. Swish!
Note: There is a brief mention of an almost suicide of a supporting character.
Available Here
About the Author
Bob Katz is the author of several acclaimed books, including the novel Third and Long (3rdandLong.net), winner of the 2011 Independent Book Publishers Association fiction award, Elaine’s Circle, a non-fiction account of a dramatic year in the rural Alaska classroom of an innovative school teacher, the novel Hot Air, which was optioned by actor Michael Keaton and MGM for a movie, The Whistleblower, a nonfiction exploration of the world of college basketball referees, and, most recently, EZ and the Intangibles, a novel for middle readers.
For more information, visit: BobKatz.info
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