Review by Booklist Review
In the wake of a death the world still has trouble grasping, Philadelphia Inquirer sports columnist Sielski wisely tells not the story of L.A. Laker Kobe Bryant, the Black Mamba, owner of five championship rings, one of the greatest NBA players of all time, but rather Bryant's origin story. It begins in Italy, where Bryant's father, Joe, a former NBA player, would live with his young family while he plied his hoops skills for eight years in European leagues. Joe's playing career finally over, the family would move to a tony suburb of Joe's hometown, Philadelphia, where Kobe would, one year later, enroll at his local public high school, Lower Merion, where he would carve out a storied career that would lead to a state title his senior year, national fame as the number one high-school player in the country, and, the following season, a jump to the NBA at age 18. Armed with invaluable primary-source material, along with interviews with Bryant's high-school coaches and other figures in Bryant's life, Sielski draws an affecting portrait of young Bryant, a man among boys on the basketball court, but also a curious, tentative, sweet, fish-out-of-water kid feeling his way to adulthood--in other words, how Kobe became Kobe.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Sielski (Fading Echoes) presents a riveting chronicle of the life of basketball superstar Kobe Bryant (1978--2020) from his youth up to when "great things" were just beginning to happen. Using previously unpublished interviews between Bryant and Jeremy Treatman--a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer who went from covering Bryant's promising high school basketball career to becoming one of his "most trusted confidants"--Sielski tracks "the tail of Kobe's comet" from the 1980s, when he played under the tutelage of his father, former Philadelphia 76ers star Joe Bryant, to leading his Pennsylvania high school basketball team to a championship, up to the pivotal moment when he was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers. What emerges is a fascinating portrait of a passionate athlete with an oversize ego and ambition matched by generational talent, accompanied by shyness, and a regular-kid persona off the court. In highlighting others who've influenced Bryant--among them his 10th grade English teacher, Jeanne Mastriano, who taught him and his classmates to "develop flexibility and confidence" through storytelling--and not neglecting his occasional bad behavior, such as yelling at one coach as a kid, Sielski lends pathos to a celebrity player known for stoicism in the face of pain. Fans will relish this nuanced take on an oft-overlooked part of the legend's remarkable story. Agent: Susan Canavan, Waxman Literary. (Jan.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
The shocking accidental death of basketball superstar Kobe Bryant in January 2020 remains one of those moments when time seemed to stand still. Hailed as the next Michael Jordan and drafted into the National Basketball Association at age 17, Bryant's unique coming of age was eclipsed by his Hall of Fame career and untimely death. Journalist Sielski (Philadelphia Inquirer) tells Bryant's childhood-to-NBA-draft story with exclusive input, meticulous research, and a smooth narrative style. Along the way, he shows how talented young athletes move to the next level, and the impact that success has on their families and communities. Basketball and sports fans, cultural historians, and readers interested in how a shy boy turned into a global phenomenon will enjoy this fast-paced, captivating biography, and gain new appreciation for one of the most admired athletes of his generation. VERDICT A landmark account of Kobe Bryant's early life, this is an essential purchase for sports collections in all public libraries. Sielski's biography will stand as the most objective, definitive record of Kobe Bryant's childhood and youth, and invites a sequel that will similarly cover his professional career and personal story beyond the 1996 NBA draft.--Janet Davis, Darien P.L., CT
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A winning portrait of Kobe Bryant (1978-2020) in his formative years. "Remember this name: Kobe Bryant." In 1992, that's what a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote when he saw Bryant in action. He was far from being the star that he would become. Scouts noted that he was scrawny and comparatively weak, and one of his opponents said, "He wasn't athletic. He was just tall….He wasn't anything special at that age, to be honest with you." Even so, veteran Philadelphia sportswriter Sielski notes, young Kobe was very nearly foreordained to play pro basketball. His father, Joe Bryant, had logged service with the Sixers and later moved the family to Italy so that he could play professionally there. Naturally enough, for young Kobe, "immersion in basketball began in the earliest days of his life." Numerous themes that would appear later in the young man's life emerge. One is his unparalleled work ethic: As a high schooler and then, in the closing pages of this account, as a rookie, he demanded championship play of his teammates, and he practiced endlessly under the tutelage of his father and a phalanx of coaches and trainers. Another is an arrogance born of insecurity, evidenced by "a seventeen-year-old prima donna dictating terms to the entire NBA." Some of the author's set pieces are rote play-by-play accounts of critically important games, and these are less interesting reading, overall, than the between-the-lines hints of what made Bryant tick as a human and as a player. By Sielski's account, he was an ambitious, motivated young man with an interest in writing poetry and a talent for self-promotion (and later for the good works of philanthropy), but he was also someone that, as one man who knew him in his earlier days, demanded attention: "People kissed this dude's ass from the time he was eighteen until his dying day." A fine study of a legendary athlete in the making, of interest to any fan of basketball. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
