Ratings3
Average rating3.3
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nic Stone comes a challenging and heartwarming coming-of-age story about a softball player looking to prove herself on and off the field. Shenice Lockwood, captain of the Fulton Firebirds, is hyper-focused when she steps up to the plate. Nothing can stop her from leading her team to the U12 fast-pitch softball regional championship. But life has thrown some curveballs her way. Strike one: As the sole team of all-brown faces, Shenice and the Firebirds have to work twice as hard to prove that Black girls belong at bat. Strike two: Shenice’s focus gets shaken when her great-uncle Jack reveals that a career-ending—and family-name-ruining—crime may have been a setup. Strike three: Broken focus means mistakes on the field. And Shenice’s teammates are beginning to wonder if she’s captain-qualified. It's up to Shenice to discover the truth about her family’s past—and fast—before secrets take the Firebirds out of the game forever.
Reviews with the most likes.
I love Nic Stone and how so consistently awesome she is. I liked this less than her other books but I might just be in a mood.
I loved Shenice as a character and I loved the stuff about the stress of her softball team + racism, and I loved the family mystery stuff. I did think the execution of the mystery was a little clunky...like that great-uncle's dementia seemed to be extremely plot-convenient in its symptoms, but...whatever, a good quick read for sporty/mystery-enthusiast tweens.
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