Review by Booklist Review
Lori is a basketball-obsessed fourth-grader stuck in the "fifth quarter," when bench-banished teammates get to take their shots during breaks. But her commitment is solid, and as she works her way from after-school practices to a three-day camp intensive, her skill grows even as her friendships and family life face turmoil. Uncertain with her fourth-grade buddies and eager to join up with some basketball-playing fifth graders, Lori can occasionally let her emotions get the better of her, which is made all the worse when her mother decides to run for town council. While the basketball scenes are fast, tense, and exciting, the emotional journey Lori takes is authentic and will prove accessible and extremely validating to both young readers and their grown-ups. Rather than distancing readers, Lori's difficulty in seeing past her own social and performance-related anxieties makes her yet more relatable. Dawson's visuals are outstanding, whip fast, and energetic for the sports action and emotive and expressive for the family and friendship moments, with bright, lively colors and figures that have the big, instantly distinct features of classic comic strip characters. With its insightful emotional balance for kids and adults and its easy narrative and visual flow, this is the rare middle-grade graphic novel that will invite read-alouds in classrooms and at home.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The first in a series about less-than-star athletes, Dawson's graphic novel documents the on- and off-court drama of a fourth grade girls' basketball team with sincerity, humor, and strong character development. Lori Block is a passionate player and a good shooter, but she and her friend Sophia, nicknamed the "double dribble twins," rarely play except for during the "fifth quarter," when the "not-so-good" players take the court. Unlike Sophia, Lori takes basketball seriously, and tensions run high in their friend group when fifth grade travel team tryouts loom. Lori views another girl as a friendship threat, the pals deem Lori "mean" when she reacts defensively or sensitively, and it doesn't help that Lori's mother is running against another friend's father for town council. But a trip to overnight basketball camp helps Lori become a better friend and player. Though nonwhite characters, present on the court, are largely relegated to the story's sidelines, Dawson populates his contemporary world--drawn in confidently cartoony illustrations--with busy adults (Lori's stay-at-home dad displays parenting overwhelm) and tweens who struggle believably to navigate complex social situations that feel increasingly high-stakes. Ages 8--12. (May)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Practice makes perfect, or at least better--both in basketball and in friendship. Lori may be only good enough on the boards to play in her fourth grade team's informal "fifth quarter" warmups, but her determination to improve burns steadily enough to prompt signing up for both youth league and an intensive girls basketball camp at the local college. While chronicling plenty of realistically aggressive game and practice action in the tight but cleanly drawn panels, Dawson hands his protagonist a different sort of challenge too, as Lori discovers that Elyse, a likewise unskilled teammate she had pegged as a friend stealer, is actually an admirer who has been inspired by Lori's focus. In a thematically similar side plot, Lori's own mom nervously announces that she's going to run for town council. By the time fifth grade tryouts roll around, the work both girls have put into their games and their relationship bears fruit--and if the political campaign doesn't end so happily, still Lori expresses stout pride that her mom had the courage to try. That sentiment along with a more experienced player's "If you want to win you can't be scared you'll lose" make up the main message in this first of a planned duology. The bright, saturated color palette and characters' expressive faces complement this engaging, fast-paced story. Racially ambiguous Lori and her parents have black hair and light skin; the cast is visibly diverse. Nothing but net. (Graphic fiction. 10-13) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
