The Moves Make the Man
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Moves Make the Man is a sports novel written by Bruce Brooks that deals with many issues in society including racism, domestic violence, child abuse, and family deaths. It was chosen best book of 1984 by School Library Journal (SLJ), notable children's book by the American Library Association (ALA), notable book of the year New York Times, and won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and a Newbery Honor in 1985.
The book is set in North Carolina around the time of the Civil Rights Movement. It is written in first person and narrated by an African-American child named Jerome Foxworthy, who goes by the nickname of Jayfox. He covers the stories leading up to the relationship between him and a baseball-loving white kid named Braxton Rivers III, otherwise known as Bix, and the things that led to Braxton's running away. Braxton is a child who never says anything that is not a truth, which brings him problems others cannot understand. The book covers problems happening in both his and Jerome's families.