STANDING TALL

When talk-show host Don Imus made racist and sexist remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team, many American didn’t know who their gifted coach Vivian Stringer was. To be clear, Stringer’s book is not a basketball memoir. It’s about personal and professional integrity, about life as a team sport, and about the role of family, friends, and communities who share in its victories and defeats. The Imus flap is relegated to a small section at the end of the book. Making Stringer's story her own, narrator Adenrele Ojo creates the atmosphere of a kitchen-table chat as she quietly shares Stringer's reflections on having had breast cancer and raising a special-needs child, and recounts experiences of courtship and marriage, including the death of her husband. Ojo's delivery of the details of Stringer's life as an athlete and coach give the book the energy of a locker-room pep talk as her love of the game, professional style, and aspirations for her teams come through. G.O. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2008]