Mia St. Clair is ten years old. The only girl in a family of boys, she has grown up playing hockey. Yet Mia yearns to do—and be—something different from her older brothers. Figure skating seems to be the perfect choice for someone who loves being on the ice. However, it’s not smooth sailing. Coach Nelson, who recently left and is being replaced by someone new, only mentioned her mistakes. She has to deal with Vanessa, a member of the skate team who is everything Mia is not—wealthy, with a perfect complexion—and she acts the part. (If it’s any consolation, everyone has the same opinion of Vanessa.) It’s a struggle to have to work at the rink to pay for ice time, but if her brothers can do it, so can Mia.
When Emma Schubert enters the scene as the Lucerne Skate Club’s new coach, things begin to change. There are bumps in the ice, but Mia begins to think that the golden dream of competition might be hers. Setbacks, foibles, and misunderstandings (some of which are more humorous than serious) only make the spunky ten-year-old more determined to come out a winner.
Laurence Yep, the multitalented author of picture books, fantasies, historical fiction, and more, has once again shown his versatility with these contributions to the American Girls series. As kids cheer the young heroine on, they can’t help being uplifted and inspired. From the first page, Mia skates her way into the hearts of her readers.
130 pages 9781593694098 Ages 8-11
Recommended by: Barbara Karp, Librarian, New York USA
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Mia St. Clair is a ten-year-old girl living in upstate New York. She has grown up playing ice hockey wit her three older brothers on the pond behind their house. Mia's got the skills and the scrappiness it takes to be a star hockey player, but she's tired of skating in her brothers' shadows and has decided to follow her heart and pursue figure skating instead. Does she have what it takes to grow and compete as a figure skater?
When a new coach arrives, Mia finds herself gently pushed by the coach at the same time that she's pulled by her brothers. Can she stay true to her heart and follow her own path? Can she hold her own in a world of competitive skating? -- from the publisher
