Game, Set, and Match (Going for Gold)
Grade 4-6–Twelve-year-old Carrie, an English tennis prodigy pushed by her parents, doesn't want to compete anymore. When she is awarded a scholarship to an exclusive tennis camp in Florida, she enjoys the game more away from her father and lets him know that she is not playing tennis just to please him anymore. This is the strongest scene of the book. Relationships between the female campers are highly competitive, so Carrie finds two younger boys who are friendly as she battles against or puts up with the mean girls. The tennis action is accurate, but the plot is formulaic. Some parts are unbelievable; for example, Carrie's rival from England shows up at the same camp. For a more interesting tennis story, try John Feinstein'sVanishing Act(Knopf, 2006).–Sharon R. Pearce, Longfellow Elementary School, Oak Park, ILCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.