"Game Changer, written by John Coy and illustrated by Randy DuBurke, takes a different approach to the practice of history, presenting an 'uncovered' story set against the backdrop of an accepted narrative. This book frames its narrative around good folks who fought injustice, racism and segregation through their participation in a sporting event. We learn about a secret college basketball game in the Jim Crow South in which blacks and whites--forbidden from officially competing in the same league--played against one another, then sat around together afterward talking, 'the way basketball players do.' It's the kind of story from which 'inspirational' movies are made, in which there are no villains but the occasional local who says something like, 'That's not how we do things 'round here.' Where Aaron and Alexander reiterates the importance of already celebrated historic figures, Game Changer resurrects the lesser-known John McLendon, the African-American basketball coach of the North Carolina College for Negroes team, who made the 'secret game' against the Duke University Medical School team happen, and the players on both squads who challenged tradition and played together. DuBurke's illustrations are appropriately historical in feel. The basketball scenes are rendered in sequences as quickly paced as television montage. Muted tones and a vintage newsreel patina add a veneer of authenticity.

The historical bent of the storytelling is perhaps less authentic, weaving between reportage and occasional shortcuts intended for dramatic effect, as when Coy claims that some of the white players who grew up in the segregated South of nannies and footmen and countless service employees 'had never been this close to a person of a different color.' This book adds new heroes to the pantheon, yet continues the tradition of seeing the practice of history as being about electing heroes and creating unified narratives."--The New York Times Book Review.