MMGM- Wish I Was a Baller

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Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
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Unleashing Readers

Shah, Amar and Doucet, Rashad. (illustrator)Wish I Was a Baller

August 5, 2025 by Graphix
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

In this graphic novel memoir, sports journalist Amar Shah details his interesting path into the profession. Early in his 1990s high school career in Orlando Florida, he set out to get a press pass so that he could interview players like Michael Jordan. It took a lot of determination, as well as a good dose of luck. Entering the school gym on a forged pass, he interacts with a coach in a funny way, and is interviewed for a radio program. After months of calling, he finally gets a press pass for the Orlando Magic, and interviews Shaquille O'Neal at length. Shaq is incredibly nice to him, and the two interact on several occasions, with the basketball player even taking Amar home after a Christmas event, buying him a jersey and shoes, and graciously taking pictures with the family! Amar also calls different magazines about writing for them, and gets a gig with SLAM magazine. The other students at his school aren't tremendously helpful, and some are unkind, but he does have two good friends, Kasey and Sophia, who help him out. He continues to work for the school newspaper, and to write for SLAM, and even ends up on the cover of Sports Illustrated for Kids in a photo with Shaq, and his article is featured. He gets in trouble for bringing friends to his SLAM writing assignments, and is put on probation for unprofessional behavior, but this doesn't stop him from continuing his career. A note at the end of the book details Shah's successful career with ESPN and other news outlets before he ended up working for the Orlando Magic back in his hometown. 

Strengths: There are very few graphic novels about basketball, and I could probably check out twenty different titles every single day. If they existed. The publishing world seems to dislike sports books in general and sports graphic novels in particular, which I do not understand. Shah wrote the fun Hoop Con, and its sequel, Take the Shot; it must be noted that Scholastic published these only in paperback. This is a great story about loving basketball and wanting to be involved in it professionally, then actually doing the work and having the persistence to make it happen! There's a lot going on in this book, and it will definitely keep readers flipping the pages. It would be fantastic if more sports journalists would follow in the footsteps of John Feinstein and Fred Bowen and write middle grade sports books. If you are having a Scholastic book fair, you will want to make sure you have an entire box of this title on hand. 
Weaknesses: Every single time I put this up on display, I will be irritated by the lack of the subjunctive in the title. Wish I WERE. Even though I'm glad to see a sports graphic novel, I wish that Shah's editor had left this as a memoir. There are a lot of characters and events that are mentioned briefly and never appear again, because the graphic format doesn't leave much room for elaboration. Shah's story is an interesting one, and I would have loved to know more of the details. 
What I really think: This is much more accessible than Yang's Dragon Hoops, and will be an absolute hit with my students who love basketball. Add this to the small handful of basketball graphic novels like Tavares' Hoops, Khan and Zerrougui's We Are Big Time, Misako Rock's Bounce Back, and Dawson's Fifth Quarter. I can't wait to see what Shah will write next, but do kind of hope it isn't as concerned with celebrity, even though I sort of want to go back and rewatch Shaq's Big Challenge, which I actually watched with my children back in 2007!

Have not been reading as much as I should have this summer, but am finally working on books being published in November, so can't feel too bad about my progress. At 599 books for the year.