Pass the Ball, Mo!
Series
Mo Jackson
by
David A. Adler
illustrated by
Sam Ricks
Edition
Hardcover edition
Publisher
Penguin Random House
Imprint
Viking
ISBN
9780425289785
POTENTIALLY SENSITIVE AREAS
None
Mo's latest obsession is basketball. He's determined to learn how to pass, but as the shortest member of the team, he can't seem to launch the ball high enough. Full-color illustrations.
POTENTIALLY SENSITIVE AREAS
None
Details
Format
Page Count
32
Trim Size
9" x 6"
Dewey
E
AR
1.9: points 0.5
Lexile
390L
Genre
Fiction
Scholastic Reading Counts
0
JLG Release
Mar 2018
Book Genres
Topics
Basketball. Size. African Americans. Team sports. Coaches. Sports and recreation. Family life.
Standard MARC Records
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Cover Art
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Praise & Reviews
Starred or favorable reviews have been received from these periodicals:
Booklist, The Horn Book Magazine, School Library Journal
Praise & Reviews
School Library Journal
The newest title about the protagonist of Don’t Throw It to Mo! and Get a Hit, Mo! is all about basketball. Mo is the shortest player on the Bees basketball team, but he has big dreams. He practices passing all the time (“’throw it higher,’ Coach Emma tells him”)—at school, at home, even with blueberries into his cereal bowl. When the Bees play the Ducks, Mo is benched for most of the game but gets to come in at the end, when the score is tied. When Mo finally gets the ball, he passes it high—so high that he actually makes a basket and wins the game! The story ends with Coach Emma playfully telling him “it was a very bad pass. But your bad pass won the game.” This charming story has many funny and relatable moments for sports lovers and underdogs, and shows the power of practicing and having the support of family, caring adults, teammates, and friends. There is a great deal of diversity featured in the illustrations—Mo and his family are African American, both basketball teams are coed, and the characters are majority people of color. The spot and full-page illustrations are simple, but with great character expression and movement. VERDICT Another enjoyable “Mo” sports story for beginning readers.—Jenny Berggren, Longfellow Middle School, Berkeley, CA
Horn Book
In this third Mo Jackson easy reader (Geisel Award-winner Don’t Throw It to Mo!; Get a Hit, Mo! ), Mo has found a new sports obsession. The ever-enthusiastic boy has basketball on the brain both at home and at school. Unfortunately, being the shortest player on his team leads to Mo struggling to connect (literally) with his teammates when passing the basketball. “At practice Coach Emma says, ‘Mo, pass the ball.’ Mo passes it to Gail. It hits her knee and bounces away.” After some extra practice with dad and some blueberries-into-cereal-bowl shooting at breakfast, it’s time for the big game. A diverse cast of helpful and encouraging adults and teammates are all on hand as Mo makes the most of his limited time on the court and shines when his team needs him the most: all his practice passing “higher” pays off. The ending is unlikely to surprise fans of this always-funny and often-endearing series, but that won’t stop them from reading and rereading this welcome addition to the easy reader shelves. Repetitive sentences, ample white space, and a large typeface help make Adler’s humorous text comprehensible for new readers, while the inclusion of picture clues within Ricks’s engaging illustrations aids readers in deciphering difficult-to-decode words such as cereal and whistle. eric carpenter
Grades 1-3
Easy Reading
For Grades 1-3
The 12 engaging books in this category--one per month--provide the perfect foundation for building comprehension in beginning readers--with short stories, poetry selections, and picture books that are a bit more challenging.
12 books per Year
$220.68 per Year
Interests
Beginning Readers,Chapter Books,Fiction,Picture Books
Grades 1-3
Easy Reading
12 books per Year
$220.68 per Year
