Game Maker: A Creative Kid Becomes the Father of Basketball

Game Maker’s inspirational message is based on historical insights that Author Brian Hanni learned while interviewing Jim Naismith, the grandson of the Father of Basketball. With a young boy’s competitive spirit and enthusiasm for all sports, James Naismith made up games working on his family’s farm in Canada and mastered “Duck on a Rock” a popular schoolyard game. Believing that becoming a physical education teacher would be the way he could make a difference in people’s lives, after graduating from college, James Naismith moved to Springfield, Massachusetts. At his job at the YMCA, he was asked to create an indoor game because the winters were so cold. Naismith drew upon his childhood experiences and education – and basketball was born! Told in an appealing rhyme with a vocabulary for adults and children, Game Maker will delight every reader!

By Brian Hanni. Illustrated by Rob Peters.

Hardcover, 32 pages