MMGM- The Beautiful Game and Shaken

It's

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
 at 

Always in the Middle 

and #IMWAYR day 

at

Unleashing Readers

Mendez, Yamile Saied. The Beautiful Game

September 17, 2024 by Algonquin Young Readers

E ARC provided by Netgalley.com

Valeria Salomón lives in Utah with her grandmother (Lita) and grandfather, who is also her soccer coach for the Overlords. Her parents were very young when she was born, and her father has only visited her five times, since he lives on the east coast and travels a lot as a photographer. Val loves soccer, and is a very good player. She's played with the Overlords for years, and her best friend, Sasha used to be on the team as well. Now, however, Val is the only girl on the team. Her grandmother and father are supposed to come to a crucial game, but the family is devastated to find out that her Tia Antonello in Argentina is not doing well at all. Lita packs up to go, and Val's father joins her. Val isn't feeling well during the game, and realizes too late that it's because she's gotten her period. A time out is called, and the entire team changes from white to black shorts. Distracted, Val blows a play and feels embarassed and awful... until she finds out that Abuelo found out during the game that her aunt has died. Since he's had a tumultuous relationship with the aunt, he doesn't handle things well, and Val decides to stay next door at Sasha's house, where her mother gets her period supplies and tries to help her through the difficult days. Eventually, Lita comes home... with Antonella's son Maxwell in tow. Since it's summer, he has time to settle in to living in Val's father's old room, and even starts to play with the Overlords, since Val was kicked off. Val thinks it's unfair, but her grandmother points out that if she wants to be considered for the Olypic Development Program, she needs to play on a girls' team. The best coach out there is Linda Blume, but when Val calls her, Coach Blume tells her that her team is full, and she's just missed the try out period. Undaunted, Val goes to her house and explains why she didn't go through the tryouts. She gets on the Amazon team as the 19th player on the roster. Still stinging from being kicked off the boys' team, Val doesn't do well at first. Eventually, she starts to realize that she's not playing WITH the team, but is just trying to showcase her own skills. Once she figures this out, she starts to play better, and Sasha helps her connect socially with her teammates. Lita jumps in to full soccer mom mode, bringing her knitting and sitting between Maxwell and Val's teams. Abuela may be struggling with his daughter's death, and letting the other coach, José, work with the team, but Maxwell is slowly acclimating to his new home situation. When both Maxwell and Valeria have a big tournament, Val's dad comes in, and there's plenty of team drama as the Overlords and the Amazons play for their respective league trophies. 

Strengths: This was a very realistic look at how families can take many different forms. While Lita and Abuelo are Val's grandparents, they are raising her, so feel a bit more like a mom and dad. There's a nice scene when the Amazons have a "mother-daughter" party, and Val feels a bit awkward asking Lita, who of course is perfectly happy to attend. There are a lot of my students who are in similar circumstances, so I liked how matter-of-fact the family situations were. The draw for young readers will be all of the soccer details. I know in Ohio, girls can play on boys' teams, but boys can't play on girls' teams, so this seemed realistic. The Overlords generally liked Val, but there were some members who were irritated, which also seemed realistic. The difficult family situation after the aunt's death was well handled, and one of my favorite moments was when Sasha and Maxwell met and Val could tell they liked each other. Yes, tween life still goes on, even under stressful circumstances. Val is a little jealous of Maxwell, since he has spent more time with her dad, but she does acknowledge that this is a bit petty, since he has just lost his mother. There are never enough books with sports in them, and this will be a very popular book with my students, who have also enjoyed this author's Shaking Up the House and Wish Upon a Stray! 
Weaknesses: While I really liked that Val had to contend with her period during a couple of points in the story, I'm not sure how I feel about first periods that are super noticeable to everybody. Having been in a middle school for 26 years, I've never seen this happen, and I am more likely to be consulted for help than the school nurse in these matters. I also talked to several friends and my daughter, who had their doubts. Should girls be prepared? Absolutely. Is it good to scare them this way? I'm still thinking about that one. Both of my daughters would pass out at school on occasion, so it is good to have period issues as part of the story.
What I really think: I'll definitely be purchasing this title, and recommending it to readers who enjoyed 

Morgan's The Kicks series, Matheson's Select, and Lupica's Defending Champ.

Preller, James. Shaken

September 10, 2024 by Feiwel & Friends

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Kristy Barrett is not just a good soccer player, she's been featured on ESPN and mentioned as an Olympic hopeful. Her parents are very invested in her sporting career, and her father will take her early and sit in the car while she does her warmups before games. She's a seventh grader, but playing on the high school team. This makes it a little hard to connect with other players, although she is good friends with Tia, who is three years older. When Kristy dives for a ball, she connects in such a way that she passes out. She is taken to the doctor, who tells her that she needs to stopp, assess her condition, and follow the concussion protocol. Her parents assume that she'll be back to playing within the week, but Kristy is nauseated, unable to focus, and can't even handle being at school. Her mother grudgingly lets her stay home, but doesn't understand the severity of the injury. The other girls on the team quickly forget about her, and she feels bad that she won't be able to play in an important game. She does go to a concussion specialist, who says she has post-concussion syndrome, and that it will take a lot of time before she feels better. This makes her so depressed that her mother does take her to see a therapist. This helps a bit, as does hanging out with her neighbor, Jimbo, who is a year ahead of her in school. What doesn't help is that Jimbo is a bit of a loose cannon, and some of their activities involve shoplifting from CVS, going to the golf course in the middle of the night, and sneaking in through her bedroom window. Her parents are angry about Jimbo, of course, but essentially struggling with the fact that Kristy isn't the daughter they once had. Kristy also questions who she is without soccer, although she does enjoy the art therapy that she does, and starts to embrace art as a new part of her. After months of recuperation, she is able to do some running, but the concussion has definitely changed her essential identity. 

Strengths: Middle grade books should all have some element of personal identity. It's a huge concern with this age group, and tweens are constantly trying out new personalities. Kids who play soccer often start at very young ages and get VERY invested; the father sitting in the car watching Kristy warm up struck home, because during the Washington, D.C. trip with 8th graders, I volunteered to spend a half hour every morning sitting in the parking lot watching a soccer player do the same kind of exercises. She wasn't willing to give that up for even three days. Kristy's inability to focus and frustration are palpable, and her parents' reaction was surprising but very interesting! The idea that Kristy was able to play on a high school team when she was in middle school will be aspirational for many readers. A lot of my students play soccer, and this is a great soccer book to have in a middle school collection, along with Fabbri's Back of the Net series, Greenwald's The Ultimate Goal, and Matheson's fantastic Select. 
Weaknesses: I would have liked a bit more medical detail about what was going on with Kristy; there is a decent amount of detail with the therapy, but more on concussion protocol, treatment, and descriptions of exactly what Kristy should have been doing to rest her brain would have been very helpful. I've had a couple of students who have suffered concussions, and it's been difficult for them to understand what is going on. There was also a strange seen with Binny talking about her younger brother that could have been omitted. 
What I really think: There are a good number of football books dealing with concussion, but soccer is also a leading cause of this injury. Herbach's Cracking the Bell , Greenwald's Dinged, or Weyn's Full Impact address football injuries, so I was glad to see this soccer title. Since so many of my students play soccer, I'll definitely purchase a copy. 

Update Blather:

This is the last week I have off before I return to school. I've been very good, following all of the doctor's instruction, staying strictly off my feet for five weeks. This last week... has been rough. A lot of pain and swelling. I even called the doctor's office, and got the information that I am supposed to walk, but not too much. Well, what's too much? No one could tell me. I have a feeling that re entry will be rough, but I will be glad too be getting out of the house. 

I'm not the sort of person who is ever bored, but I am slowly getting there. I've read a lot of books, tweeted like it was my job, even knit a sweater. But I miss long walks, puttering around the house, and even doing laundry. My home "staff" has done an excellent job picking up the slack, but... how do you burn something in the microwave? My rule has always been that I don't complain about work that I haven't had to do myself, so if I have to use towels that were line dried, so be it! (Don't do this. They're scratchy.)

Almost at the point where I want to break out the desperation projects. Write bad poetry. Haul out the quilting (which is only a summer endeavor). Clean out a closet while sitting on the floor. Learn to crochet. All of those things take more gumption than I currently have, and I would just be sad when I went back to work that I couldn't do them. 

So! One more week of track pants, sitting around reading, and being with Leo, who has discovered that the best thing in the world is full body massage, and will sit on top of my computer until I pay attention to him properly. He misses walks, too, and will not be too pleased when I go back to work!