Taking Sides — Gary Soto

SOME GAMES YOU LOSE NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU PLAY.

Lincoln Mendoza is brown, not white. Nothing is going to change that.

Sure, these days he lives in Sycamore, the mostly rich, mostly white suburbs, instead of the hard-knocks barrio where he grew up. But he's still loyal to his friends back at Franklin Junior High, and he's still loyal to his old basketball team -- even though now he shoots hoops for Columbus.

But loyalty is not so easy when Lincoln's new team faces his old team on the boards. How can he play his best against his best friends? Yet how can he betray his new teammates by not giving the game everything he's got?