Hardcover, 175 pages
Release Date: August 31, 2021
Published by: Crown Books for Young Readers
Read from: August 31-September 16, 2021
Clean Getaway companion
Source: Bought
TW: Death of a Family Member, Hospital stay, Mention of stitches, Microaggressions
For Readers Interested In: Contemporaries, Realistic Fiction, Sports, Social Issues, Middle GradeFrom Nic Stone, the New York Times bestselling author of Clean Getaway, comes a challenging and heartwarming coming-of-age story about a softball player looking to prove herself on and off the pitch.
Shenice Lockwood has her eyes set on the Fastpitch World Series. As team captain, she’d like nothing more than to help her girls take home the trophy and the $10,000 prize money. And as one of the few brown faces on the field, it’d be a personal triumph to show-up her rich, white opponents.
But Shenice’s focus gets shaken when her Uncle Jack reveals that a family crime may have been a set-up all along. Shenice will stop at nothing to uncover the past. The closer she gets to the truth, though, the further she gets from her goals for the future.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Clean Getaway, Nic Stone seamlessly pairs the history of the Negro Leagues with the story of a contemporary, Black tween determined to blaze a trail of her own.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I swear, this woman can’t miss. I’ve read almost everything she’s written and I love it all. And those that I haven’t read, I still bought them for my sister who also loved them lol In short, Nic Stone is a beast. That’s it. That’s the review lol
Shenice Lockwood is the team captain of the all Black softball team that she is trying to make sure that her team wins the World Series and takes home the trophy and the prize money. Her focus is messed up when her Uncle Jack reveals that a family crime isn’t actually a crime. Her family member was set up! She has to find out the truth before she can let it rest. But what she finds out makes her more interested than ever.
I LOVED this. The plot was awesome. Not only is it about softball, but the social justice issues in it MADE the book. It wouldn’t be a Nic Stone book without it. As a matter of fact, I think that’s what makes her books so good to me. There’s always that little blip of our history. I love to see it. It always makes me so happy. The softball playing was realistic too. I never played this specific sport, but I was an athlete, so I know the struggle of what could happen if you can’t keep your head in the game. Definitely could relate to Shenice.
The family dynamic of this book made it what it was tho. I LOVED Uncle Jack! I felt like he was my uncle too. And while I was reading it, I actually lost my uncle, so having Uncle Jack around helped take the sting away. (Books help in the most unexpected ways y’all) But besides that, I loved the relationship that Shenice had with her dad. It’s not usual that we see parents in the book AND it’s not normal that African American males are pictured in media, so I LOVED that they were so close.
The rest of the characters were awesome as well. Her teammates were hilarious. (Let there be a Britt-Marie book lol) Even her coaches were amazing. As a character driven reader, this made me so happy. And all the games they had were so much fun. I wanted to see more of them, but I know it would’ve made the book too long. Or the way I wanted it to be anyway.
The book was so good. From the beginning to the end. Although it took me a while to finish it, but I had some life things happen. Like I said, my own uncle passed and I had to deal with that. I still had work. I had so many other things, but I never stopped thinking about this book. And that’s how I know that I liked it. Because I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Nic Stone is undoubtedly my favorite authors. I can’t wait to see what else she has in store.
Overall, I give this
