Brothers on three A true story of family, resistance, and hope on a reservation in Montana

Abe Streep

Book - 2021

"From journalist Abe Streep, the story of coming of age on a reservation in the American West and a team uniting a community March 11, 2017, was a night to remember: in front of the hopeful eyes of thousands of friends, family members, and fans, the Arlee Warriors would finally bring the high school basketball state championship title home to the Flathead Indian Reservation. The game would become the stuff of legend, with the boys revered as local heroes. The team's place in Montana history was now cemented, but for starters Will Mesteth, Jr. and Phillip Malatare, life would keep moving on-senior year was only just beginning. In Brothers on Three, we follow Phil and Will, along with their teammates, coaches, and families, as they ...balance the pressures of adolescence, shoulder the dreams of their community, and chart their own individual courses for the future. Brothers on Three is not simply a story about high school basketball, about state championships and a winning team. It is a book about community, and it is about boys on the cusp of adulthood, finding their way through the intersecting worlds they inhabit and forging their own paths to personhood"--

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Subjects
Published
New York : Celadon Books 2021.
Language
English
Main Author
Abe Streep (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
viii, 349 pages ; 25 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 319-349).
ISBN
9781250210685
  • Prologue: TU Be There
  • Part 1.
  • 1. We Just Know
  • 2. They're Following You
  • 3. We Need Her
  • 4. This Crazy Feeling of Infinity
  • Part 2.
  • 5. Keep Up
  • 6. Never Do It for Yourself
  • 7. Almost Exactly the Same
  • 8. He Don't Like to Go Far
  • Part 3.
  • 9. A Brutal Truth
  • 10. Who's Tired?
  • 11. This Is the Right Now
  • 12. Why Do You Care What Other People Think?
  • 13. It's Not by Accident
  • 14. How Can It Be Business?
  • 15. Should We Smile?
  • 16. A Perfect World
  • 17. As Good as Your Word
  • 18. If It Could Just Be This
  • 19. It Can Also Break Your Heart
  • 20. "Love You" on Three
  • Part 4.
  • 21. The Cracks
  • 22. The Singing
  • 23. Home
  • 24. Must Be the New Shoes
  • 25. Where It All Began
  • 26. Where We're Gonna Be
  • Epilogue: We're Still Playing
  • Author's Note
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Journalist Streep debuts with an earnest account of a Montana high school basketball team's quest to repeat as state champions in 2018. Most players on the Arlee Warriors had familial ties to the Salish and Kootenai tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation, and Streep documents growing excitement in the community during the team's march to victory in the 2017 "Class C" final. He also details a star player's work with a literacy coach to keep up his grades, and an administrator's concerns that the competitive pressure might spike suicide rates, which were already high among Native American boys. During the 2017--2018 season, the stakes were raised, especially for the team's seniors, many of whom sought a college education with the goal of returning to make Arlee better. Streep documents injuries and illnesses that nearly derailed the season, and describes how the players and their coach launched a suicide prevention initiative. After winning a second state championship, some Warriors left Arlee to play college ball. Streep is in top form with the on-court action and insights into the discrimination faced by Native athletes, though he somewhat shortchanges the tribal history. Still, this is a rousing portrait of a long-shot team beating the odds. Illus. (Sept.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Streep expands on his 2018 New York Times Magazine article in this debut--a riveting portrayal of the Flathead Indian Reservation in Arlee, MT, home to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. The focal point is the Arlee high school men's basketball team, whose members Streep follows as they win multiple state championships and pursue their dreams of playing college ball. Arlee is also the center of a suicide cluster that affects the entire community; recognizing the positive impact of the team's success, their coach urges the basketball players to make videos addressing mental health. The experiences of grandparents, parents, tribal elders, and teachers also figure prominently, adding perspective to the basketball action. Streep's magazine portrait won an American Mosaic Journalism prize for exploring generations of Salish and Kootenai families and their joys and difficulties; this book-length expansion benefits from his talent and compassion. VERDICT In addition to being great sports journalism that will touch anyone who loves high school sports, Streep's book will appeal to readers interested in histories of generational trauma. The focus on high school life and basketball gives it YA appeal.--Laurie Unger Skinner, Highland Park P.L., IL

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

An action-packed yet reflective account of the quest for a high school basketball championship on and off a Montana Indian reservation. "In rural Montana, on the weekend of the state tournament, small towns evacuate, their residents filling arenas designed for rock bands and college teams." So writes Outside contributing editor Streep, setting the scene for a team on the Flathead Indian Reservation competing in Class C basketball, which "occupies emotional territory somewhere between escape and religion." The Arlee Warriors lack nothing in the way of community support; when they travel for away games across the sprawling state, nearly half the Flathead Nation goes with them. In other matters, the players are less fortunate. The school is underfunded, the reservation plagued by poverty and addiction, and prejudice is seldom far below the surface beyond its borders. Much of the success of the Warriors can be attributed to the skillful coaching and encouragement of a young man named Zanen Pitts, who recognizes what his players are up against. "Out of the kids that people are afraid to give a chance to, I'd give this kid a chance," he says of one of his students, a diligent and inventive player who gives his all off and on the court: "To watch him play was to become accustomed to surprise," writes Streep. Other players have their own styles, some brash and attention-seeking, some shy but fearless. Readers will applaud the boys' accomplishments against the long odds while shaking their heads at the many institutional and social obstacles placed in their way, not least of them lack of support from higher education. As the author documents, of 222 Montana students recruited for college athletics, "just one basketball player was Native American, a young woman." With its excellent on-court set pieces and search for context, Streep's book nicely bookends Michael Powell's Canyon Dreams (2019), a story of basketball on the Navajo Reservation. A thoughtful call for social justice as much as a story of striving for athletic excellence. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.