Wheel Wizards

Book excerpt: Twelve-year-old Seth Pender thinks his life came to an end when he suffered a spinal injury that left him confined to a wheelchair. Seth, an athlete who loves basketball, is sure he'll never play again. He grows sullen and silent, unresponsive when his family urges him to try to adjust. Then one day he sees an older boy who, like himself, is wheelchair bound. But this boy is playing basketball! How is that possible? Over the course of three years, Seth (and the reader) learns about the sport of wheelchair basketball: the similarities and differences between it and regular basketball, the skills one needs to excel at it, and the camaraderie that grows amongst the players. By the end of the story, Seth is better adjusted to his life, and ready to reach out a hand to help others find their way.