A Celebration of Books,
Writers & LIterary Excellence

Save the Date


Gaithersburg
Book Festival

May 17, 2025

10am – 6pm

Bohrer Park


Derrick Barnes

Latest Title: Who Got Game?: Basketball: Amazing but True Stories!
Who Got Game?: Basketball: Amazing but True Stories!

From superstar author Derrick Barnes, here is a middle-grade celebration of the people and stories that helped shape the game of basketball, from unsung pioneers to unforgettable moments of the game.

Capturing all the joy and energy that mark the sport of basketball, bestselling and award-winning superstar author Derrick Barnes shines a light on the amazing ballers, buzzer-beaters, and record-breakers who haven’t always gotten the attention they deserve. Who Got Game? Basketball, the second book in his sports series, following Who Got Game? Baseball, weaves together great storytelling, lively illustrations, and a far-ranging selection of facts, stats, sidebars, and quotes.

Middle-grade readers will discover the highest-scoring game in NCAA history. The influential center, George Mikan, who created the modern big man role, and 5’3″ Muggsy Bogues, the shortest player ever to star in the pros. The pioneering Senda Berenson Abbott, creator of the women’s game. The legendary Rucker Park b-ball court in Harlem, New York. Plus the first African American players and coaches, greatest comeback victories and earth-shattering slam dunks, longest winning streaks, and so much more. This book will hit you like a three-pointer from half-court!

About Derrick Barnes

Derrick Barnes is a National Book Award Finalist for his 2022 graphic novel, “Victory. Stand!-Raising My Fist For Justice,” which also won the 2023 YALSA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award, and a Coretta Scott King Award Author Honor. He is also the author of the multi-award-winning picture book, “Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut,” which received a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award and the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers.

In 2020, he became the only author to win the Kirkus Prize twice for his twelfth release, The New York Times best-seller, “I Am Every Good Thing.”

Derrick is also the creator of The New York Times best-selling companion picture books, “The King of Kindergarten: (2019) and “The Queen of Kindergarten” (2022).

He is a graduate of Jackson State University and was the first African-American male creative copywriter hired by Hallmark Cards. Derrick is a native of Kansas City, Mo., but currently lives in Charlotte, N.C., with his enchanting wife, and their four sons, the Mighty Barnes Brothers.

Derrick will be presenting “Who Got Game?: Basketball: Amazing but True Stories!”

Instagram: @authorderrickdbarnes

Author Schedule:

Venue(s):

Willa Cather Pavilion

Presentation Start Time:

11:15 am

Presentation End Time:

12:05 pm

Signing Time:

12:15 pm