Sticky is a beat-around-the-head foster kid with nowhere to call home but the street, and an outer shell so tough that no one will take him in. He started out life so far behind the pack that the finish line seems nearly unreachable. He’s a white boy living and playing in a world where he doesn’t seem to belong. But Sticky can ball. And basketball might just be his ticket out . . . if he can only realize that he doesn’t have to be the person everyone else expects him to be. A breakout urban masterpiece by newcomer Matt de la Peña,Ball Don’t Lietakes place where the street and the court meet and where a boy can be anything if he puts his mind to it. From the Hardcover edition.