Summary

“Sometimes a Dream Needs a Push” by Walter Dean Myers opens with the narrator, Chris, describing his dad, Jim Blair, who was once a professional basketball player before suffering a knee injury. Chris, too, was set to be a great basketball player, until his family was in a car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Whereas Chris and his Mom learn to live with the injury, Dad “took it hard, real hard” and becomes quiet and reserved about the topic (208).

One day, a member of the family’s church asks Chris if he wants to join a new wheelchair basketball team. The family goes to see a wheelchair basketball game, and the narrator is excited to see others like him “zipping around in their chairs playing ball” (208). Mom is excited, but Dad broods during the game...