It’s one single steamy July day at the West 4th Street Court in NYC, otherwise known as the Cage. Hotshot baller ESPN is wooing the scouts, Boo is struggling to guard the weird new guy named Waco, a Spike Lee wannabe has video rolling, and virgin Irene is sizing up six-foot-eight-and-a-half-inch-tall Chester. Nine of YA literature’s top writers reveal how it all goes down in this searing novel in short stories that ingeniously pick up where the last one ends. Characters weave in and out of narratives, perspectives change, and emotions play out for a fluid and fast-paced ode to the game. Crackling with humor, grit, and streetball philosophy, and featuring poems by Charles R. Smith Jr., this anthology is a slam dunk.

Nicholas, Kevin. Age 19. Died at York Hospital, July 19, 2012. Kev''s the first kid their age to die. And now, even though he''s dead, he''s not really gone. Even now his choices are touching the people he left behind.

Rita Williams-Garcia follows one aimless teen as he finds a new life in his new job - at the mortuary. Ellen Hopkins reveals what two altar boys (and one altar girl) might get up to at the cemetery at night. Will Weaver turns a lens on Kevin''s sister as she collects his surprising effects - and makes good use of them. Here, in nine stories, we meet people who didn''t know Kevin, friends from his childhood, his ex-girlfriend, his best friend, all dealing with the fallout of his death. Being a teenager is a time for all kinds of firsts - first jobs, first loves, first good-byes, firsts that break your heart and awaken your soul. It''s an initiation of sorts, and it can be brutal. But on the other side of it is the rest of your life.

It’s one single steamy July day at the West 4th Street Court in NYC, otherwise known as the Cage. Hotshot baller ESPN is wooing the scouts, Boo is struggling to guard the weird new guy named Waco, a Spike Lee wannabe has video rolling, and virgin Irene is sizing up six-foot-eight-and-a-half-inch-tall Chester. Nine of YA literature’s top writers reveal how it all goes down in this searing novel in short stories that ingeniously pick up where the last one ends. Characters weave in and out of narratives, perspectives change, and emotions play out for a fluid and fast-paced ode to the game. Crackling with humor, grit, and streetball philosophy, and featuring poems by Charles R. Smith Jr., this anthology is a slam dunk.

Nicholas, Kevin. Age 19. Died at York Hospital, July 19, 2012. Kev''s the first kid their age to die. And now, even though he''s dead, he''s not really gone. Even now his choices are touching the people he left behind.

Rita Williams-Garcia follows one aimless teen as he finds a new life in his new job - at the mortuary. Ellen Hopkins reveals what two altar boys (and one altar girl) might get up to at the cemetery at night. Will Weaver turns a lens on Kevin''s sister as she collects his surprising effects - and makes good use of them. Here, in nine stories, we meet people who didn''t know Kevin, friends from his childhood, his ex-girlfriend, his best friend, all dealing with the fallout of his death. Being a teenager is a time for all kinds of firsts - first jobs, first loves, first good-byes, firsts that break your heart and awaken your soul. It''s an initiation of sorts, and it can be brutal. But on the other side of it is the rest of your life.