Julian Randall,
Nathan Walker (Illustrated by)
Aug 4, 2026
Hardcover with dust jacket
Juvenile Fiction / Boys & Men / Social Themes / Adolescence & Coming of Age / Stories In Verse
Ages 8 to 12
For fans of The Crossover and Jason Reynolds' Track series, this contemporary novel-in-verse follows a 12-year-old boy whose dream of making the varsity basketball team is put in peril when he gets injured, and he struggles to find a way through his anxiety and back to feeling like himself. Features black & white illustrations and an incredible interior design.
I feel my breath get short.
Heartbeat, double dribbling.
My mind careening out of bounds,
for a loose ball. I start feeling
more Shook than Shake.
Malik Page—though unless you're his mama, call him "Shake"—dreams of making the Marshall Grove varsity basketball squad as an eighth grader. Then he'll be on his way to joining the ranks of Chicago legends like his pops and late Uncle Kenny. But when Shake fractures his ankle in a championship game, he's sidelined for the first time since his first dribble.
As his world is turned upside down, Shake feels like there’s ginger ale bubbling in his chest and sweat slicking on his palms. With a best friend who’s getting more distant by the day, a growing silence between him and his dad, and varsity tryouts fast approaching, Shake will have to cross up every obstacle to find a way back onto the court—and back to being himself. Thankfully in Marshall Grove, the sky is always full of hope.
My mind careening out of bounds,
for a loose ball. I start feeling
more Shook than Shake.
Malik Page—though unless you're his mama, call him "Shake"—dreams of making the Marshall Grove varsity basketball squad as an eighth grader. Then he'll be on his way to joining the ranks of Chicago legends like his pops and late Uncle Kenny. But when Shake fractures his ankle in a championship game, he's sidelined for the first time since his first dribble.
As his world is turned upside down, Shake feels like there’s ginger ale bubbling in his chest and sweat slicking on his palms. With a best friend who’s getting more distant by the day, a growing silence between him and his dad, and varsity tryouts fast approaching, Shake will have to cross up every obstacle to find a way back onto the court—and back to being himself. Thankfully in Marshall Grove, the sky is always full of hope.
