The Moves Make the Man

Wow! I can't believe it took me this long to read this one. Why did I put it off? Oh, right, basketball.

This was one on the Battle of the Books book list when I was in middle school, and I never read it because I have never been into sports. However, Bruce Books writes in a very compelling way that actually made me care at least as long as Jerome Foxworthy was sharing his story, probably because he himself was so interested, and the way he talked about it was much broader than just the basics of the game, it was also about how a person plays it and how that can tell you about the person.

At its heart, The Moves Make the Man is the story of Jerome Foxworthy's meeting, befriending, and trying his best to understand Bix, a young white boy show more with some very serious issues, but Jerome's first run-in with Bix doesn't reveal this, just spying him from afar while Bix plays baseball (a sport Jerome loathes) against his brother's team. The story, taking place in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1961, then pushes Bix and Jerome together through a series of circumstances, starting with Jerome's transfer to a new school thanks to Desegregation.

In the beginning, it is hard to tell how everything happening to Jerome connects with his eventual friendship with Bix, this bit of information already having been revealed right at the start of the narrative, but it all eventually comes together in a very fascinating read of the complexity of humans and human relationships. Also, the more I read the more I found myself relating to both Jerome and Bix in certain ways, which is always a plus.

I'm amazed this isn't on more Must-Read lists, as it certainly just found a place on mine, especially for the age and grade-level it is meant for. So good. show less

Ok, I finished this a couple of days ago and just about all I can say is wow.

More poetical than most 'novels in verse' nowadays.

If one knows just a little bit about basketball, one can get more out of it than someone completely naïve, but I can't imagine anyone who's never seen any snippets of the game or who doesn't know what a backboard is, for example. Oh, and do know that you can't 'travel' (walk or run with the ball in hand rather than dribbling it). That's about it.

Mostly it's about race relations, family relationships, and coming-of-age in the South in 1961.

The N word is used a lot, almost always to signal that this is a character for whom we have no respect. The word 'coon' is used once, too, in a way that makes it clear it's show more an obscenity.

Don't read it too fast. I have a feeling the less than stellar reviews are from people who rushed through it. All who didn't talk about the ending read too fast, too. It's *hard spoiler - do not click through if you're thinking about reading this* a truly tragic ending; there's no way Bix is going to make it on his own even though he is white.

The author is white, but his biography gives me the impression that he is a completely credible witness.

I do highly recommend this.

4.5 stars, because I try to reserve 5 stars for books everybody should read and I have to be honest and admit that there are people I'm not going to bother to recommend this to because I know they wouldn't appreciate it... but I did think it amazing so I feel compelled to round up! And I do plan to reread it. show less

This book not only made me care about Jerome Foxworthy and Bix Rivers, it made me fall in love with basketball. The Jayfox, as narrator Jerome Foxworthy is called, first notices Braxton Rivers the Third as the fine shortstop at a summer baseball game in Wilmington, North Carolina. Later, when Jerome is the first to integrate Bix’s lily-white school, they encounter one another again in a home ec class where they bond in a protest against making mock apple pie.

Full review:
http://www.twentybyjenny.com/teenBooks/review/moves-make-man/

Two boys, both with issues of their own, become friends over the game of basketball, but one of them may be too troubled to be saved by the other.
And intense and touching story that had me rooting for both boys.

Powerful story about friendship and family and how each can make us heroically strong or frighteningly fragile.