82 pages • 2 hours read
Walter Dean MyersSlam!
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1996A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 10-13Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 10 Summary
Despite Slam’s bad mood, Derek gets him to go up to the rooftop with him to shoot film for the school project. They film people’s morning routines in the neighborhood: people milling about, going to work, a beer delivery at the corner store. They go back inside, where Slam notices that his dad is in a bad mood. He’s having second thoughts about Slam being tutored by Richie Randall.
At school, Ducky and Slam talk about the fight. Ducky says Nick is ready to move on. Later in the day, Margie reviews some of Slam’s early footage for the project. Margie, fascinated by what she considers to be “ghetto,” inadvertently makes Slam feel as if his life is something to be marveled at, a spectacle for Margie’s entertainment. He angrily walks out of the room with the tape. Later, Slam expresses some of these frustrations to Mtisha, who tells him he has to relax and find a better, more productive way of dealing with his emotions rather than letting every little thing get to him. They talk about how they haven’t seen Ice in a while. Slam starts doubting his relationship with Mtisha, wondering if she’ll break up with him one day because she is so smart with a bright future ahead of her—namely, college—and he feels weighted down by his struggles in school.
After talking about Ice with Mtisha, Slam goes to see him and finds him outside of a record shop next to where he lives. For some reason, seeing Ice makes Slam nervous. While they’re talking, two men approach Ice looking for a dime, but Ice says he has nothing. He tells Slam that as soon as you seem to have a little something, everyone thinks you’ve got drugs. Slam thinks that Ice probably isn’t using drugs himself but that he is most likely dealing them, which would explain the two men asking Ice to sell to them.
Chapter 11 Summary
At school, Nick finds Slam in the cafeteria and asks him if he still wants to fight. Slam says it makes no difference to him, despite Ducky’s having already told Slam that Nick wants to move on. Nick has no problems with Slam’s game, he says, but just his attitude; he tells Slam that he needs to start figuring out how to get along with other guys on the team and that the world doesn’t owe him anything.
In their next game, Latimer plays Country Day. By halftime, Latimer is winning 32-22, though Slam has the sense that Nick is trying to one-up him. Despite that, they end up winning the game easily, although Ducky messes up a play designed for him. He is so upset afterwards in the locker room that he wants to quit. Slam tries to comfort Ducky, telling him not to worry about it and that he’ll have Ducky’s back in their next game.
After the game, Slam goes to see Mtisha, but when she tries to tutor him in math and wonders whether he’s scared of it, Slam angrily goes home. At home, Derek confesses to having lost the video camera Slam has been using for his school project. He left it with his friend outside when he went in a store to get some cookies, but his friend followed him inside, leaving the camera out on the stoop; when they went back outside, the camera was gone. Slam decides to go see Carl in the hopes that someone tried to pawn it. Carl hasn’t seen it but says he’ll keep an eye out for it in case someone tries to sell it to him.
Slam later learns from his mom that Grandma Ellie is not doing well, so they go visit her in the hospital. Grandma Ellie doesn’t look well, but she gives Slam her love and tells him to look after his mother. Slam later calls Mtisha to apologize, and she says he should be sorry for walking out on her. He then calls Ducky to check in on whether he’ll play in their game tomorrow. He asks if Ducky is afraid of basketball.
Chapter 12 Summary
The Latimer team travels to Trinity for their next game. On the way there, Slam wonders if he is afraid of math the way that Ducky is afraid of basketball. Slam also hears that a scout from Brown University is coming to watch Nick play, and Slam feels hurt that a scout isn’t coming for him. Nick mentions he’ll need good grades for a scholarship to get into any school. Coach Nipper tells the team that Trinity, one of the stronger teams in the conference, has a legitimate shot at winning the championship. Before the game, Jimmy apologizes to Slam for the fight.
During the game, Slam matches up against a white player named Brothers, a player Ice has warned Slam about. Brothers is easily the most talented player Slam has gone up against this season. He and Slam jaw back and forth in a tightly fought contest. By the end of the first half, Latimer is losing 28-16. The team decides they will work to get Slam the ball. In the second half, Slam and Brothers continue to go back and forth, exchanging baskets and physical play. Latimer slowly cuts into the lead, eventually down one point with eight seconds left. Coach Nipper draws up a final play, and Nick makes a miraculous layup to win the game—or so they all think. Nick’s shot came after the final buzzer, so the referees wave off the basket. Defeated, the Latimer players head into the locker room.
Chapter 13 Summary
Coach Nipper tells the team not to feel bad about losing because they played well and fought hard, though the team can tell Nipper feels bad as well. Coach Goldstein compliments Slam on the way he helped lead the team in their comeback effort and then advises him to focus on the next game, not the past. At home, Mtisha calls Slam to invite Slam to meet her for dinner. He meets up with her, deciding to accept her help with math and agreeing to work on some practice problems so she can figure out the areas in which he needs the most help.
At school, Mr. Parrish tells Slam he thinks what he’s seen so far of the film project is good, that Slam has a good eye, and that the project could potentially make some noise at the state art competition. Slam later learns that the scout from Brown wants Nick to play for them, and Slam is happy for him. Later, Goldstein talks to Slam, explaining that Brown wants Nick because his grades are good and he can play. The only person who can decide if Slam has a shot at playing in college, Goldstein says, is Slam. He says that most people don’t have the opportunity to do what they love and become really good at it, and he encourages Slam to give basketball everything he has if he’s really serious about it.
Chapters 10-13 Analysis
Despite the accomplishments of Latimer’s basketball season, internal strife between Slam and his teammates is threatening the team’s success. Much of the strife comes from Slam’s me-first attitude towards the rest of the team. He thinks everything is about him—that he is the only one capable enough of helping the team win, for example, or that Coach Nipper’s decisions around Slam’s playing time are personal versus what might be best for the team. Despite the challenges, though, the team continues to play well and begins to show signs of working together, even in the close loss to Trinity. Slam is slowly learning that he does not have to outshine everyone to get to where he wants to be, a realization that also relates to his struggles with school and his questions about the future. He is slow to understand that his chances of playing basketball in college will depend totally on him and his ability to improve his grades. Being good at basketball, he’s learning, isn’t enough, especially when he’s not always the best one on the court, as seen in his duel with Brothers.
Slam begins to have a shift in his mindset. He wonders if he is afraid of math—and school in general—in the way that Ducky is afraid of failing at basketball. Simply wondering this shows that Slam is beginning to realize that his future depends solely on him. This realization is also contrasted by Slam’s encounter with Ice, who is seemingly giving up control of his future to the neighborhood. Slam knows he does not want to end up another washed-up athlete dealing or doing drugs. At the same time, Slam starts to realize he has strong feelings for Mtisha. For the first time with her, Slam is able to see things from her perspective—that her desire to help him with school isn’t a criticism of him but a desire to help him become a better version of himself—and this shift not only deepens his relationship with her, but also shows a good deal of growth for his character.
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