82 pages • 2 hours read
Walter Dean MyersA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Slam’s coming of age is at the novel’s center. In that sense, Slam! is a bildungsroman, a German term that in literature is used to describe a story that focuses on the mental or physical growth of the story’s protagonist; the term comes from the German words bildung (meaning “education”) and roman (meaning “novel”).
When the novel begins, it’s clear that Slam is a phenomenal basketball player and a deep thinker, but he devotes little energy to much off the court. Growing up in a tough neighborhood riddled with police sirens and drug addicts, Slam has learned to rely on himself to get ahead, always looking for ways to promote and advance himself without thinking how he might be affecting others. This attitude, though, makes it difficult for him to work with people around him. His outlook causes discord on the basketball team—he fights with other players, and he draws the ire of Coach Nipper, who initially sees Slim as a diva and doesn’t play him much because he refuses to buy into the system of team basketball—and earns him negative attention from his teachers, such as when Mr. Parrish accuses Slam in class of wanting to be nothing more than a corner guy.
By Walter Dean Myers
Autobiography of My Dead Brother
Autobiography of My Dead Brother
Walter Dean Myers
Bad Boy: A Memoir
Bad Boy: A Memoir
Walter Dean Myers
Dope Sick
Dope Sick
Walter Dean Myers
Fallen Angels
Fallen Angels
Walter Dean Myers
Hoops
Hoops
Walter Dean Myers
Lockdown
Lockdown
Walter Dean Myers
Monster
Monster
Walter Dean Myers
Scorpions
Scorpions
Walter Dean Myers
Shooter
Shooter
Walter Dean Myers
Somewhere in the Darkness
Somewhere in the Darkness
Walter Dean Myers
Street Love
Street Love
Walter Dean Myers
Sunrise Over Fallujah
Sunrise Over Fallujah
Walter Dean Myers
The Glory Field
The Glory Field
Walter Dean Myers
The Greatest: Muhammad Ali
The Greatest: Muhammad Ali
Walter Dean Myers
The Young Landlords
The Young Landlords
Walter Dean Myers