From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nic Stone comes a challenging and heartwarming coming-of-age story about a softball player looking to prove herself on and off the field.
Shenice Lockwood, captain of the Fulton Firebirds, is hyper-focused when she steps up to the plate. Nothing can stop her from leading her team to the U12 fast-pitch softball regional championship. But life has thrown some curveballs her way.
Strike one: As the sole team of all-brown faces, Shenice and the Firebirds have to work twice as hard to prove that Black girls belong at bat.
Strike two: Shenice’s focus gets shaken when her great-uncle Jack reveals that a career-ending—and family-name-ruining—crime may have been a setup.
Strike three: Broken focus means mistakes on the field. And Shenice’s teammates are beginning to wonder if she’s captain-qualified.
It's up to Shenice to discover the truth about her family’s past—and fast—before secrets take the Firebirds out of the game forever.---from the publisher
192 pages 978-1984893017 Ages 9-13
Keywords: sports, mystery, coming of age, softball, African American and Black stories, Black Girl books, mistakes, heritage, relatives, truth, African American author, prejudice and racism, 9 year old, 10 year old, 11 year old, 12 year old, 13 year old
