Ball Boy - Shirley Paul

Gray Taylor wants to be remarkable but isn't. Gray gets the chance to change this when his mother moves him from Los Angeles to the dying Kansas town of Beaudelaire, where Gray finds basketball. Gray uses basketball to become someone people notice. And later to save Beaudelaire from itself.

Ball Boy is The Karate Kid meets Hoosiers meets The Shortstop from Tokyo. It's a book about growing up, about the importance of community, and about the power of finding the thing that makes you feel special.