Publisher Description

A heartwarming graphic novel about a baseball-obsessed 7th grader, trying to find her place in the sports world and her family.A heartwarming graphic novel about a baseball-obsessed 7th grader, trying to find her place in the sports world and her family.In their tiny corner of Fox Point, Rhode Island, Gemma Hopper's older brother, Teddy, is a baseball god, destined to become a Major League star. Gemma loves playing baseball, but with her mom gone and her dad working endless overtime, it's up to her to keep the house running. She's too busy folding laundry, making lunches, getting her younger twin brothers to do their homework, and navigating the perils of middle-school friendships to take baseball seriously.But every afternoon, Gemma picks up her baseball glove to pitch to Teddy during his batting practice--throwing sliders down and away, fastballs right over the middle (not too fast or he'll get mad), and hanging curveballs high and tight.Could baseball be Gemma's ticket to the big leagues or will it mean the end of her family as she knows it?

Author Biography

Author/illustrator of children's picture books, graphic novels, and YA novels, Brie Spangler loves to draw and write stories, and drink massive amounts of caffeine. Writing down the ideas in her head was scary as a kid, so she turned to making pictures instead. Brie worked as an illustrator for several years before she began to write and immediately became a frothing addict. Her YA novel Beast was nominated for a Lambda Award and was named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly and Kirkus. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Brie now lives in the Bay Area with her family. Follow her on Twitter at @BrieSpangler.

Review

"Brie Spangler brought me back to that relentless ache of being young—the dreams, the fights, the loss, and the hope. You don't need to know baseball to root with all your might for Gemma Hopper!" — Tillie Walden, author of On a Sunbeam

"Spangler crafts a piercing meditation on fraught family dynamics, complex adolescence, and athletic meritocracy in this baseball-filled graphic novel." —Publishers Weekly

"[A] heart-warming read about finding yourself in the things you love and being your own hero."—The Bulletin

"An intriguing graphic novel that kids will want to read." —School Library Journal

Review Quote

"Brie Spangler brought me back to that relentless ache of being young--the dreams, the fights, the loss, and the hope. You don't need to know baseball to root with all your might for Gemma Hopper! " -- Tillie Walden, author of On a Sunbeam

Details