Description: Chyna, a gymnast balancing her mother's illness and a competitive team, and Jamaal, a basketball player determined to honor his late brother, navigate the pressures of pursuing their dreams at a new, prestigious sports charter school.
Brief description: Co-founder of the award-winning blog, The Brown Bookshelf, Paula Chase is a longtime advocate for diversifying the type of fiction featuring Black characters. Chase is the author of nine critically acclaimed Upper Middle Grade and YA novels and a winner of NCTE's Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN) Konigsberg Award.
Review Quotes:
"Organic prose centers Black teens in a juicy high-stakes sports drama with soapy twists... In this scintillating series starter told via Chyna and Jamaal's alternating perspectives, Chase deftly examines issues of classism and systemic racism amid Gossip Girl-style glitz." --Publishers Weekly
"Chase serves up a strong, balanced portrayal of dramatic, real-life struggles centering on well-rounded Black characters navigating neighborhood, socioeconomic, family, and other differences. Teen readers will resonate with the relatable depiction of the challenges of juggling home, school, and the digital third space of social media." --Kirkus