Tre Brun is entering his sophomore year of high school on the Red Lake Ojibwe reservation in Minnesota. Tre has been training hard all summer in hope of making his school’s varsity basketball team. His long-term dreams are big: Division 1 college ball and then the NBA. But Tre is playing for more than just himself: His older brother, Jaxon, was a star player on the team before dying in a car accident earlier in the year. Tre doesn’t feel pressure to be Jaxon, but as he continues to grieve along with his parents, he wants to honor his brother with his play. Basketball is a constant in this story that follows Tre from late summer through the subsequent school year as he and his Native teammates become a force to be reckoned with and work their way to the state championship. But basketball is not Tre’s only interest in this multidimensional story; he loves comics and video games, too, and his relationships with his family members, teammates, and friends, including a new girl at school with whom he connects and would like to be more than friends, are essential and engaging parts of the narrative. The sports action is riveting, and following this underdog team on their journey is immensely satisfying. But the characters and relationships shine in quieter moments, while the games themselves underscore how important the team’s efforts are to their Red Lake community. (Age 12 and older)

This compelling debut novel by new talent Byron Graves tells the relatable, high-stakes story of a young athlete determined to play like the hero his Ojibwe community needs him to be.

These days, Tre Brun is happiest when he is playing basketball on the Red Lake Reservation high school team—even though he can’t help but be constantly gut-punched with memories of his big brother, Jaxon, who died in an accident.

When Jaxon's former teammates on the varsity team offer to take Tre under their wing, he sees this as his shot to represent his Ojibwe rez all the way to their first state championship. This is the first step toward his dream of playing in the NBA, no matter how much the odds are stacked against him.

But stepping into his brother’s shoes as a star player means that Tre can’t mess up. Not on the court, not at school, and not with his new friend, gamer Khiana, who he is definitely not falling in love with.

After decades of rez teams almost making it, Tre needs to take his team to state. Because if he can live up to Jaxon's dreams, their story isn’t over yet. 

This book is published by Heartdrum, an imprint that publishes high-quality, contemporary stories about Indigenous young people in the United States and Canada.