by Barbara Carroll Roberts
Published by Little, Brown, 2019
336 pages
ISBN: 978-0316521901
Ages 10-13
Eighth grader Nikki has played basketball with her best friend, Adria, since they were young. Now, both are on an elite pre-high school league team. Although she isn’t tall, Nikki’s a great shooter, but as the team gradually gels under their wonderful coach, one of the parents of another player has Nikki doubting her abilities. Nikki’s struggle with her flailing confidence, drastically impacting her play, is one dimension of this story. Her changing friendship with Adria, who is spending a lot of time with new teammate Kate, is another. At school, Nikki is becoming friends with Booker, her table partner in science. Booker is adopted. Nikki’s father was a sperm donor. Neither of them wants to do the science assignment of tracing a family genetic trait (an assignment the understanding teacher admits he didn’t think through). After school, Nikki is caring for her high-energy younger brother Sam—canceling his after school care was the only way Nikki’s mom could afford Nikki’s team fees, although Nikki doesn’t want anyone else, even Adria, to know this. These various subplots are wonderfully balanced in a novel about identity and friendship, family and change that is also an action-packed sports story in which Nikki and her teammates’ passion for the game is palpable. ©2019 Cooperative Children’s Book Center
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