Basketball is Jackson O’Connell’s life. Much more than a game, it allows him to cross barriers of class and race, and make new friends from the rival high school. Driven by his passion for hoops, he can almost forget his alcoholic father and a night of violence that tore his family apart.

Jackson’s senior year is plagued by volcanic zits, girl shyness, and rumors that isolate him from most of the school. And when team politics keep him off the starting lineup of the basketball team, his hopes for a scholarship plummet like an airball. His self-confidence in tatters, Jackson makes errors on and off the court that almost cost him a friend and the girl of his dreams. With no rulebook to follow, Jackson must learn how to rebound from injustice and anger . . . and start shooting from the heart.

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Graduating from high school is supposed to feel like the beginning of your real life. But for Jackson O’Connell, it’s more like a slew of endings. In this sequel to Hoops of Steel, Jackson’s dream of a basketball scholarship is gone. His surrogate parentGranny Dwyer has died and he has no place to really call home. His relationshipwith Kelly is in crisis—Kelly is Princeton bound, while Jackson doesn’t have a plan beyond the next five minutes. Even Jackson’s alcoholic father seems to be getting his life together.

Introduced to a gruff old sailor at Granny’s funeral, Jackson reluctantly agrees to live at the marina and work at the boatyard. As Jackson experiences the rigors of working for a living and learning how to sail, he gains skills and self-knowledge. Is it enough to help him navigate the challengeshe faces and set his own course for the future?

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"Fast-paced and easy to read. . . an engaging and reassuring story about friendship, love and loss, and truly living in the present moment."
—Bill Sherwonit, author of To the Top of Denali and Living with Wildness: An Alaskan Odyssey

A Long Way Down

A lifelong climber, seventeen-year-old Jordan spends as much time as he can scaling the crags outside his Washington hometown. His friend A.J., a fellow climber and popular super-jock, keeps the gorilla football players off Jordan's back, and his girlfriend Juana likes the crags as much as he does. All in all, Jordan's got a crimp hold on happiness.

But even the tightest grip is useless if a piece of the rock breaks away. For the climber, there are only two absolutes in life: gravity and death. Unfortunately, Jordan can't protect his friends from either.

Praise for John Foley

"Convincing and exciting-Hoops of Steel
is terrific and deserves a wide audience."
-Carl Deuker, author of Night Hoops

"[Running With the Wind is] a powerful and honest approach to coping with life's difficulties."
-School Library Journal

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Basketball is Jackson O’Connell’s life. Much more than a game, it allows him to cross barriers of class and race, and make new friends from the rival high school. Driven by his passion for hoops, he can almost forget his alcoholic father and a night of violence that tore his family apart.

Jackson’s senior year is plagued by volcanic zits, girl shyness, and rumors that isolate him from most of the school. And when team politics keep him off the starting lineup of the basketball team, his hopes for a scholarship plummet like an airball. His self-confidence in tatters, Jackson makes errors on and off the court that almost cost him a friend and the girl of his dreams. With no rulebook to follow, Jackson must learn how to rebound from injustice and anger . . . and start shooting from the heart.

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