I grew up in a sports town, but one of those sports wasn’t basketball. Still, there were multiple basketball courts in my neighborhood, and it was nice to have access to even a partial court so that you could shoot baskets solo or even create a pickup game with your friends. So, I have a lot of fond memories playing basketball as a kid, despite having never joined a team or watched it on TV.
Author C. Behrens shares his love of the game with young readers in his picture book, Home Court: A Basketballer’s Ditty. Check out my review of the book and interview with Behrens.
Home Court, A Basketballer’s Ditty plot summary
Home Court is a book that’s been adapted from an award-winning poem of the same name previously written by the author. Each page takes a line from the poem and has it spoken by its unnamed female protagonist, named only as Player 31, as she’s seen enthusiastically engaging in the sport in different situations.
The poem is essentially a love letter to the sport. The speaker is energetic, confident, and takes the good with the bad in terms of their history with basketball.
Side bars inserted onto almost every page relay facts about the sport, from its origins to its equipment and its rules. These facts may be tidbits that even fans of basketball might not even know, and they’re also facts that may interest those who know nothing about the game. By the end, the poem is finished and the reader gets to choose their own basketball nickname based on their personality.
The story
Though it’s not a traditional story, the book does help to convey the author’s love of the game in just a few words. I love how straightforward and to the point each line is and how putting them all together brings an aggressive yet good-natured tone to the book. It feels like healthy sportsmanship at its finest.
The main character goes through a rollercoaster of emotions, from anticipation and obsession to drive and defeat and everything in between. The pain and disappointment is worth it for the triumphs and the fun that the main character has on each page.
Certain characters pop up on each page, though no one is ever explicitly named. They seem to be meant to fill in for every reader who loves the game or at least takes an interest in it.
I’m especially a sucker for fun facts that are sprinkled through picture books. The facts are brief yet interesting, the kind of trivia that kids want to learn about and show off to their friends and family. It also introduces new fans of the sport to terminology, maneuvers, and history that they might not have known otherwise.
I think the rhyming poetry style is very catchy and ideal for those interested in a topic like basketball, which also doesn’t usually coincide with those who enjoy reading. But reading about a topic they like with few words, yet a positive message feels like the right move for this book.
The illustrations and format
The illustrations by Bryan Werts are delightfully cartoonish and full of detail. Werts’ illustrations are full of depth and action which is crucial for its topic. The pages are populated by players and fans in the court illustrations, and it shows the different stances and maneuvers that both players and spectators take while playing and watching the sport.
There’s just enough blank space on the page to fill with the dialogue bubbles, which are filled in with a thick large font, giving the words even more power and energy. The fun facts are titled and labeled with boxes with colorful borders and sometimes little clip art to go along with the theme of the fact.
I love the use of the arrows and lines to show movement and motion of both the ball and the players which illustrates how active the sport is. The backgrounds are also angled in just a way to show the equipment, the lines on the court, and the general setup in the area that you’re likely to see during a game.
My recommendation
The message of this book seems to welcome both new and young fans of basketball into this world, which presents it as a sport worth loving for what it does for a player’s self-esteem, drive, and life experience. It presents a very realistic account of the sport, both the good and bad, and in the end, it invites the reader into this world with an interactive invitation to play the sport and give themselves a name to use while doing it.
I recommend this book to any picture book readers who aren’t big readers but would like to flip through a quick book with fun facts that will make them feel like experts in the sport, whether they are or not. It reminds you that sports are meant to make you feel good, build character, and be fun, and whether they’re seasoned players or merely curious spectators, everyone can get something out of loving a sport.
My rating
An interview with C. Behrens
What is your personal relationship with basketball?
I’ve played hoops most of my life and also got into coaching for several years. Coaching high school basketball was amazing. I enjoyed every second of it for 6 years but had to step down when a great opportunity came calling with my day job.
I kept playing, though, in my spare time and never stopped watching college and pro hoops year-round. The best time for watching is during March Madness. It is like Christmas for most ballers or whatever holiday they may celebrate.
In my youth, I attended the biggest camps in the northeast and even played with professional players in NYC while in high school. 4 of my 5 siblings also love hoops just as much as I do, and three of them played in college. My love for hoops runs deep and from a very young age. Some of my fondest memories are shoveling snow from the driveway, so I could play one on one with my oldest brother!
What inspired you to write the poem that eventually became Home Court?
I went to college later in life and fell in love with writing although I tried to avoid EN classes initially. I really did avoid them for the first 2-3 semesters until I had no choice. With great trepidation, I entered my first college English course. I will never forget Professor Jim Ryan’s opening line: “In this class, we get to enjoy stories…”
Writing is not easy by any stretch, but Professor Ryan did an amazing job to pique my curiosity and push me to grow as a writer. From that point on, I surprised everyone as I continued choosing English classes and went on to major in it.
To skip to the chase…I began writing creatively while I was in school and even tried my hand at poetry. When I graduated in 2010, I had a very rough start to a basketball poem that I started during March Madness, and each March I would open the file and tinker with it until March of 2023 when I finally said to myself: Finish it and send it out! So, I worked on it every night until the Writer’s Digest deadline that June.
Two months later, I received a wonderful email about my award in their 92nd annual contest. It was my love of hoops and love of March Madness, especially the One Shining Moment video that plays after the final championship game!
Your main character is a young girl. When did you decide to frame it from a girl’s point of view?
Great question. Since 2022, I have been watching more women’s hoops. This is due to the amazing superstar, Caitlin Clark. She has captured the attention of all hoopsters worldwide. Truly a generational player! But I didn’t want anyone to think it was her, so I chose a blonde-haired girl with a different number. I also didn’t want to make it about me.
Is there any personal meaning behind giving the main character number 31?
WOW! Yes…but I’d rather keep it to myself. It’s very personal. The number I always chose was 32, because my favorite player of all time was Magic Johnson. His number was 32!
How long did it take to come up with the fun facts that are scattered throughout the book? Were there any that you had to cut out of the book?
It took some time, but it was a continual process, too, as we revised and tweaked each page. At first, I had a ton of facts and tidbits, but I kept revising and tweaking and felt the final product really popped with those choices!
In fact, the last page, for the nicknames, was revised after we finished the book. We had to go back in, because I wanted to give the readers a chance to put their own nickname on the page!
All in all, it took about one year to put it all together and tweak all the fun facts. I thank my illustrator so much for putting up with me. He has a ton of patience!
Do you have a favorite page?
Tough to choose. I love them all, but the sneakers page has a blackboard included, which was inspired by a real blackboard. The message on the board was taken from our last game one season, so I took a picture for a keepsake. Who knew I would end up using it in a picture book many years later! That is such a treat!
Other information from the original blackboard was left out for privacy reasons. But I loved the idea of including some of it!
How closely did you work with the illustrator on the illustrations for this book?
We worked very closely together. I have a minor in art, so I like to be involved. Bryan Werts was very receptive to all my suggestions and even gave me an amazing idea for the grinding day by day page. He had a comic book strip idea that I really liked, and we used it for that page.
Bryan normally puts a storyboard together, which is a great tool for picture books and is used as guiding light. We make changes and tweaks as we go, but the storyboard is a great help to keep us on target.
Was there anything that pleasantly surprised you about the illustrations?
All of it really. I loved making this book so much, because it is very unique. After winning an award for the poem, I spent one year kicking around ideas of what to do with the poem. I felt it deserved more.
The entire project was FUN and pleasant and very creative. But one thing that pleasantly surprised me were the covers. I think they came out great and after quite a bit of back-n-forth with Bryan.
We both loved what we settled on. It didn’t come easy at first, but we kept at it.
What do you want readers to take away from your book?
Hopefully, they enjoy the poem and fun facts. Maybe the best thing they can take away is to be inspired to try things they may not like! You never know what might happen. One other very important message would be to never give up on their dreams!
What’s next for you?
I am excited to get back to another picture that I began many years ago and have revised at times. It’s about Joan of Arc and will include unique information based on extensive research.
I also have an adult novella I’d like to finish and try to turn into a short novel. Both books will include a poem! I am considering making Joan into a poem book with fun facts! I am sure a ton of revising awaits!
Author Links
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Alexander Hamilton’s Wish for Battlefield Glory by C. Behrens Book Review and Author Interview
How Research Improves My Stories
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