The five middle-grade protagonists in these selections (a mix of novels, graphic novel, and graphic memoir) are all passionate about a particular athletic activity. But they’re also experiencing struggles and/or setbacks in their personal lives. While practice doesn’t always make perfect, their beloved sports help teach these kids how to face challenges head on. See also the Sports--Baseball, Sports--Boxing, Sports--Swimming, Sports--Cheerleading, and Sports--Basketball tags in the Guide/Reviews Database for more recommendations.

The Hope of Elephants
by Amanda Rawson Hill
Intermediate    Charlesbridge    480 pp.
9/22    9781623542597    $17.99
e-book ed.  978163289863    $10.99

How does a family live with recurring cancer? Would you want to know if you had that same cancer gene? These questions anchor a powerful verse novel in which twelve-year-old Cass copes with her dad’s serious illness and her mom’s relentless positivity, and counts on best friend Jayla’s steady support. Weaving together genetic research, homeschooling particularities, Christian religious beliefs, and baseball fundamentals, Hill’s portrayal of Cass’s daily life is full of detail. Her inner monologue drives the story forward; free-verse poetry in a variety of forms relies on Cass’s clear first-person voice and creative spacing for effect. Cass grapples with the decision of whether to be tested for the gene. Does she want to know the worst (or best) or does she want to live her life in fear and worry about the unknown? Her situation raises existential questions in ways that are palpable and relevant. Hill delicately balances deep sadness with genuine hopefulness in this distinctive and compelling novel. SYLVIA VARDELL

Hands
by Torrey Maldonado
Intermediate   Paulsen/Penguin    144 pp.
1/23    9780593323793    $16.99
e-book ed.  9780593323809    $9.99

Twelve-year-old Trevor is a gifted comic-book artist, a good student, and a kind brother to his three sisters. But two years earlier, his stepdad was sent to prison for hitting Trevor’s mother, and Trevor fears what will happen when his stepdad returns. He figures he had better learn to “throw hands,” taking inspiration from the posters of Muhammad Ali and Creed on his bedroom wall. He bulks up, learns to box, and, at almost six feet tall, feels he might be able to protect his mother. But he has uncles — some “blood uncles,” some not — who guide him in another direction. Uncle Larry tells Trevor that his mother is stronger than he realizes: “You know the Jedi have the Force? Well, your mother is a force.” And he says that fighting his stepdad would be like Luke Skywalker fighting Darth Vader: where would that lead? With such guidance, Trevor comes to realize that he may not have all the answers, but he does have the support of family and friends who care about him as he makes his own way in life. Based on Maldonado’s own experience of growing up in Brooklyn’s Red Hook Houses, this is an accessible, engaging, and heartfelt story. DEAN SCHNEIDER

Aniana del Mar Jumps In
by Jasminne Mendez
Intermediate, Middle School    Dial    384 pp.
3/23    9780593531815    $18.99
e-book ed.  9780593531822    $10.99

Aniana (Ani) del Mar lives on the Gulf Coast in Galveston, Texas, and the pull of the ocean is in her blood. But she must keep her passion for swimming secret from her devout Dominican mother, who lost a twin brother to a hurricane and deeply fears the water. A loving father, a preschool-age sibling, and a steady best friend help Ani keep her balance — most of the time. But when she begins to suffer pain and swelling and is diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, she questions everything — her gift for swimming, her family relationships, and her own identity. Incorporating some Spanish words and phrases, Mendez weaves together free-verse poetry, concrete poems, haiku, tanka, and even texting and dialogue poems to capture character voice and emotion and propel the story forward. She uses the shape and structure of the poem on the page to add weight to the text, as when “New Ani” offers a list of ways in which the character feels she has changed and has come to accept herself. The story moves quickly as Ani competes in swimming and keeps it secret, then bogs down a bit as she grapples with her illness, but the poetry keeps the plot afloat as we engage with Ani in her struggles. SYLVIA VARDELL

The Tryout
by Christina Soontornvat; illus. by Joanna Cacao; color by Amanda Lafrenais
Middle School    Graphix/Scholastic    272 pp.
11/22    9781338741308    $24.99
Paper ed.  9781338741261    $12.99

Soontornvat shares an intimate glimpse into her youth in this coming-of-age graphic memoir. As one of the only Asian American students in her small-town Texas middle school, she endures the typical experiences of children of immigrants in a white, homogenous town: mispronunciation of a “foreign” name; teasing and disgust around “smelly” packed lunches; the reduction of one’s identity to “rice girl.” Fortunately, Christina has a best friend in fellow outsider Megan, whose father is from Iran. Christina and Megan both want desperately to be chosen for the school’s cheerleading squad, and Soontornvat immerses readers in their months of intense practice, shown in the dynamic cartoony illustrations. Both girls ace the tryout, but neither makes it; as a heartbroken Christina muses, maybe everyone saw them as just “too different.” By pushing herself to try new activities such as Impromptu Speaking (and with support from family, friends, and the “uncles” at her parents’ Thai restaurant), she begins to grow more confident, deriving strength from her community. Here, she shares her story: a “story that needed to be told” for a “young person who needed to read it.” GABI K. HUESCA

Hoops
by Matt Tavares; illus. by the author
Middle School    Candlewick    224 pp.
3/23    9781536201369    $22.99

Tavares’s first graphic novel is based on the true story of Judi Warren and the 1976 Warsaw (Indiana) High School girls’ basketball team — its rise from nonexistence before Title IX, to filling the bleachers, to winning the state championship. The book finds its main character in Judi Wilson, an athletically gifted high school senior reluctantly funneled into cheerleading, whose greatest dream comes true when the Lady Bears basketball team is formed. The girls battle for everything: practice space, uniforms, transportation, spectators. Creativity, dedication, and passion for their sport drive them through the systemic barriers that surround them in order to find success. This is a timely exploration of the pre–Title IX United States; and a cinematic, well-paced, feel-good sports story, with a couple of solid subplots to give the main characters depth. Artistically, Tavares, known for such photorealistic picture books as Henry Aaron’s Dream (rev. 3/10) and Growing Up Pedro (rev. 1/15), pares back his style to be very readable (if occasionally a bit static) and avoid colliding with the text. The classic championship-game climax is rousing, while the appended author’s note brings more nuance to the ongoing fight against sexism and discrimination and tells more about the history-making Warsaw High School team, Judi Warren, and Title IX. ALEX SCHAFFNER

From the February 2023 issue of Notes from the Horn Book.