For Ages
12 to 99

When Lonnie Jackson leaves Harlem for a basketball scholarship to a midwestern college, he know he must keep his head straight and his record clean. That's the only way he'll have a chance of making it to the pros someday.

But his street smarts haven't prepared him for the pressures of tough classes, high-stakes college ball, and the temptation to fix games for local gamblers. Everyone plays by a whole new set of rules -- including Sherry, who's determined to be a track star. Her independence attracts Lonnie, but their on-again, off-again relationship is driving him crazy.

Lonnie has one year to learn how to make it as a "college man." It's his outside shot at a bright future. Does he have what it takes?

An Excerpt fromThe Outside Shot

“Hey Lonnie, what you doing round here? Thought you was supposed to be going off to some college?” Sister Boone, from the church my mother went to, was fanning herself as she sat on a wooden chair in front of one of the brownstones down the block from where I lived. She was fat, and she leaned her head back so the breeze from the fan would get at the fold in her neck.
 
“I got about an hour before I leave for the airport,” I said.
 
“Well, you take care of yourself and keep your mind on Jesus,” she said. “You hear me?”
 
“Yes, ma’am.”
 
“What you doing, takin’ you a last look around this old raggedy neighborhood?”
 
“Be a long time before I see it again,” I said.
 
“You ain’t missing much,” she said, pulling her dress away from where the sweat made it stick to her leg. “Where ’bout you going?”
 
“Montclare State,” I said, “that’s in Indiana. It’s a pretty small school.”
 

Under the Cover