New Sports Fiction Book Helps Kids Exercise Their Minds

The Hoop Kid from Elmdale Park is perfect for middle grade readers

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Jan 07, 2014, 09:43 ET

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- As college basketball's most exciting and serious time of year [March Madness] approaches, Elmdale Park Brand founder Teko Bernard hopes to encourage young basketball fans to read more for fun with his new book, The Hoop Kid from Elmdale Park.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140107/PH41842-a)
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140107/PH41842-b)

The Hoop Kid from Elmdale Park by Teko Bernard. (PRNewsFoto/Book Publicity Services) (PRNewsFoto/BOOK PUBLICITY SERVICES)

Teko Bernard. (PRNewsFoto/Book Publicity Services) (PRNewsFoto/BOOK PUBLICITY SERVICES)

"Kids devote a lot of their time to sports participation these days, and it can get pretty hectic and serious," says Teko. "I wrote this book to help fill the need for fun, sports themed fiction books for active kids who love sports but are reluctant to read. I hope to inspire sports-minded kids to reach for a book more often to exercise their minds."

According to Nickelodeon Kids and Family Research, almost 50% of kids ages 7 to 14 play sports 3 to 4 days a week during their sports seasons. Most kids seem to be participating in 2 to 3 organized sports in a year.

Kids who read for pleasure are likely to do significantly better at school than their peers. The Institute of Education found that children who read for pleasure made more progress in math, vocabulary and spelling between the ages of 10 and 16 than those who rarely read.

The Hoop Kid from Elmdale Park is a fun, upbeat story dealing with themes of courage, teamwork, and overcoming defeat. The length and pace of the book was created with the reluctant reader in mind. The occasional cartoon like illustrations add a fun break while reading.

In The Hoop Kid from Elmdale Park, all Bernard Jones wanted to do while staying with his grandparents for the summer in Elmdale, was work on his basketball skills. When Bernard excitedly enters a team into the Annual Elmdale Park Basketball Tournament, he's shocked to discover that the future of the park is at stake. The town of Elmdale hasn't won the tournament in 20 years, and Victor Franco, a ruthless millionaire, is planning to shut down the annual tournament for good and turn the historic Elmdale Park into a landfill for his own profit. It can all be stopped if Bernard and his team, the Elmdale Warriors, win the tournament this year. Can the courageous Bernard and his fun and wacky crew defeat their Oakdale rivals and save the historic Park?

The Hoop Kid from Elmdale Park is available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Hoop-Kid-Elmdale-Park/dp/0986059307. To learn more, visit: http://www.hoopkidonline.com

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