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Summary
Summary
" I love being on this bus with all these girls who play sports, even if Sally Fontineau, who wants to ruin my life, is half a bus in front of me. It's not like every girl is my best friend. It's just a thing I feel a part of. It makes everything different ."
No one asks Ella how she feels about moving halfway across the country in the middle of her sophomore year. But she ends up in Texas anyway, without plans for the weekend or friends to guide her through the alien campus of her new private school. So she decides to try out for the softball team--and she makes it! Now if only she knew how to throw, hit, and field the ball. "This is the part you can't read in a book. You just have to do it." Ella has a lot to learn--on and off the field.
Softball changes Ella's life, for better and for worse. She discovers a confidence she never knew she had and makes new friends--and enemies. When Ella falls for her snotty teammate's gorgeous brother, suddenly she isn't just fielding balls, she's also dodging evil glares from girls in class and on the team.
If Ella's going to survive this year, she'll have to set some ground rules and learn to stand up for herself--in the game and in her life.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 6-10-Ella dreaded her family's move from Chicago to Dallas halfway through her sophomore year in high school. At her fancy new private school, she seems to be the only one being driven there by her mother. If only she had her license. However, things start to change when she tries out for softball, for which she surprisingly has a talent. There is also Nate, the boy she's partnered with for the schools infamous "Marriage Project, and her new friend Rocky, who has a mysterious and troubled past. Ella tries to fit all the pieces of her new life together, but there may be some things she just can't fix. Angela Dawe does a fine job at bringing Ella's inner and outer voices to life as she deals with the angst of being a teenager and pressures both on and off the field. The supporting characters are lively as well, but Nate's narration is a little one-note at times. Fans of Ann Brashares and Sarah Dessen will enjoy Macken's (Amazon Children's Pub., 2007) light, fun sports-mance.-Michaela Schied, Indian River Middle School, Philadelphia, NY (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Mackey deftly throws out a winning tale narrated by a teen who moves with her parents from Chicago to Dallas in the spring of her 10th-grade year. In forthright, often funny first-person narration, Ella shares her apprehension about leaving her friends behind and starting at a new school that seems so different from her old. Her P.E. teacher suggests she join the softball team, which she agrees to, despite the fact that she's never played before ("I haven't played since I was a kid, but I'm pretty sure I can catch and hit. Throwing might be a problem"). The narrative credibly follows Ella's learning curve: though her on-field skills improve quickly, Ella is less successful at dealing with Sally, a popular, haughty teammate who comes from a troubled home. Meanwhile, a marriage project in Behavioral Science class pairs Ella with Sally's cute, kind brother, and she develops a crush on him. In a heartwarming subplot, Ella is befriended by a sympathetic softball star who had to quit the team to take care of her younger siblings after their mother died. Also affecting is Ella's very real rapport with her mother, whose understanding nature and perceptiveness the teen appreciates but won't acknowledge ("I can see her point. But I don't say so"). Triumphs both on the field and off bring this engaging novel to a satisfying finale. Ages 12-up. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Ella isn't happy about moving during her sophomore year of high school. While dealing with the usual problems (bullies, boys, making friends), she finds strength in learning to play softball with the school team. Although the story is entertaining, the author's voice comes through too loudly in places (""Maybe you really should put yourself--your doubtful, curious, hopeful, nervous-but-willing self--out there""). (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
When 15-year-old Ella Kessler moves with her parents from Chicago to Dallas, she's less than thrilled. Making her new school's softball team--even though she barely knows how to play--turns out to help Ella begin to navigate her way through the challenges of her new life--including making friends; falling for the cute, nice-guy brother of a nasty teammate; and discovering that when her playing skills vastly improve, athletic prowess is her key to increased self-understanding and self-esteem and the joy of finding her niche in the world. Here's an undemanding and pleasant--if pat--read that teen girls, sports-minded or not, will appreciate. While predictable, it demonstrates that "throwing like a girl" can mean feeling like a winner, and not just on the ball field. (Fiction. 12-14) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Ella, whose family has moved midsemester from Chicago to Dallas, tells this gentle yet upbeat story. Trying hard to figure out how to be 15 and living in a new place, she discovers softball as a way to make a new life. She loves her coach, loves learning the game, and even begins to appreciate the construction crew who, working nearby, form a sort of cheering section for the girls. When a talented and popular senior, Nate, is chosen as her partner for a class where students learn life skills, she's nonplussed, and then must put up with his sister's catty abuse. The practice, drill, and habit of softball are truly limned (Mackey was a coach in Dallas), and it's genuinely fun to see how Ella handles her conflicting emotions about, well, everything. It may be unlikely that Ella and Nate hold off kissing until after their prom date, but readers will be delighted with how well the athletics and the girly stuff work in tandem. --GraceAnne DeCandido Copyright 2007 Booklist