Educational and encouraging.
A Louisiana seventh grader copes with a rare, progressive disease.
Gymnast Kate Lovejoy should feel elated after winning a gold medal in a meet, but a persistent shoulder ache dims her happiness. Downplaying her pain, she blames her tears on her dog’s recent death. But soon, the pain becomes too agonizing to ignore, and eventually, Kate is diagnosed with fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, a genetic disorder in which muscles and connective tissue turn to bone. Because physical impacts can trigger flare-ups, doing gymnastics is no longer feasible. Her fellow gymnasts and Girl Scouts aren’t sure how to act around her, and Kate’s reluctance to disclose her diagnosis threatens her relationship with best friend Mindy. Kate has many fears: What if she’ll require a wheelchair or need help with toileting? Fortunately, she’s surrounded by supportive family and corresponds with a mentor, Amie—a self-insert of co-author Specht, who also has FOP. Kate and Amie’s conversations simultaneously explore worries and challenges and offer reassurance and resources. As Kate gradually gains confidence, she discovers the perfect topic for her English essay on changing the world. Authors’ notes explain that Kate’s story is drawn from Specht’s life, and it shows. Though the dialogue is occasionally somewhat stilted and the pacing slightly uneven, Kate’s fear, loss, and anger are vividly portrayed, and others’ awkward or ableist reactions ring painfully true. Kate and her family read white; secondary characters are racially and socioeconomically diverse.
Educational and encouraging. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780593619469
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Rocky Pond Books/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
Fast-paced and plot-driven.
In his latest, prolific author Gratz takes on Hitler’s Olympic Games.
When 13-year-old American gymnast Evie Harris arrives in Berlin to compete in the 1936 Olympic Games, she has one goal: stardom. If she can bring home a gold medal like her friend, the famous equestrian-turned-Hollywood-star Mary Brooks, she might be able to lift her family out of their Dust Bowl poverty. But someone slips a strange note under Evie’s door, and soon she’s dodging Heinz Fischer, the Hitler Youth member assigned to host her, and meeting strangers who want to make use of her gymnastic skills—to rob a bank. As the games progress, Evie begins to see the moral issues behind their sparkling facade—the antisemitism and racism inherent in Nazi ideology and the way Hitler is using the competition to support and promote these beliefs. And she also agrees to rob the bank. Gratz goes big on the Mission Impossible–style heist, which takes center stage over the actual competitions, other than Jesse Owens’ famous long jump. A lengthy and detailed author’s note provides valuable historical context, including places where Gratz adapted the facts for storytelling purposes (although there’s no mention of the fact that before 1952, Olympic equestrian sports were limited to male military officers). With an emphasis on the plot, many of the characters feel defined primarily by how they’re suffering under the Nazis, such as the fictional diver Ursula Diop, who was involuntarily sterilized for being biracial.
Fast-paced and plot-driven. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781338736106
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship.
A young tennis champion becomes the target of revenge.
In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. False Legacy has become a hero to the masses, further strengthening Silla’s hold, and it becomes imperative to uncover and defeat her. If Legacy is to win again, she must play her imposter while disguised as someone else. Winning at tennis is not just about money and fame, but resisting Silla’s plans to send more young people into brutal mines with little hope of better lives. Legacy will have to overcome her fears and find the magic that allowed her to claim victory in the past. This story, with its elements of sports, fantasy, and social consciousness that highlight tensions between the powerful and those they prey upon, successfully continues the series conceived by late basketball superstar Bryant. As before, the tennis matches are depicted with pace and spirit. Legacy and Javi have brown skin; most other characters default to White.
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-949520-19-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Granity Studios
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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