A sensitively told story about the power of self and sports.
In a family where baseball is life, how do you keep swinging for the fences when life throws nothing but curveballs?
Seventh grader Gemma Hopper is used to standing out in a crowd. She can’t help it—she’s 6 feet tall. Everyone knows her older brother, Teddy, the 14-year-old slugger on his way to Florida with an exclusive travel team. But even though Gemma pitches his batting practice every day, she feels like she’s little more than his shadow. Home life is not much better: Since their mom left, Gemma cares for her younger twin brothers and picks up all the household chores while her dad works. Feeling abandoned by her mother, used by her brothers, and ignored by her father, Gemma already has three strikes. Middle school social turmoil adds to the personal turmoil, and Gemma takes out her frustrations during one of Teddy’s daily batting practices, pitching her hardest and striking him out. It’s recorded by an onlooker, going viral overnight and giving her a chance to reimagine possibilities for her life. Spangler’s mix of paneling and full-page spreads creates a visual tone that’s both cohesive and dynamic. The black, white, and blue-green palette fluctuates only once, adding a contrasting reddish-brown anti-Gemma during the poignant penultimate scene when the titular character is duking it out against her inner critic. Gemma’s resilience and realism will have readers rooting for her. Main characters are White.
A sensitively told story about the power of self and sports. (Graphic fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: April 11, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-42849-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 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
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel.
Sandy and his family, Japanese Canadians, experience hatred and incarceration during World War II.
Sandy Saito loves baseball, and the Vancouver Asahi ballplayers are his heroes. But when they lose in the 1941 semifinals, Sandy’s dad calls it a bad omen. Sure enough, in December 1941, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor in the U.S. The Canadian government begins to ban Japanese people from certain areas, moving them to “dormitories” and setting a curfew. Sandy wants to spend time with his father, but as a doctor, his dad is busy, often sneaking out past curfew to work. One night Papa is taken to “where he [is] needed most,” and the family is forced into an internment camp. Life at the camp isn’t easy, and even with some of the Asahi players playing ball there, it just isn’t the same. Trying to understand and find joy again, Sandy struggles with his new reality and relationship with his father. Based on the true experiences of Japanese Canadians and the Vancouver Asahi team, this graphic novel is a glimpse of how their lives were affected by WWII. The end is a bit abrupt, but it’s still an inspiring and sweet look at how baseball helped them through hardship. The illustrations are all in a sepia tone, giving it an antique look and conveying the emotions and struggles. None of the illustrations of their experiences are overly graphic, making it a good introduction to this upsetting topic for middle-grade readers.
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel. (afterword, further resources) (Graphic historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0334-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
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