The Beautiful Game

June 10, 2024
The start of her first period—mid-game in white shorts—marks the beginning of a transformative summer for incoming eighth grade soccer player Valeria. Coached by her abuelo, with whom she lives, Valeria always played on the boys’ team, but the game during which she got her period turns out to be her last with them. Valeria remains undeterred: “I’d learned that when one door closes, I had
to be strong enough to smash down a wall and make a new one.” Seeking out the
best girls’ coach in Utah, she earns a spot on the Amazons and struggles to find her place among her new teammates’ “sisterhood.” While Valeria navigates the bodily discomforts of severe menstruation
symptoms, family tragedy necessitates
her cousin Maxwell moving into her home—and into the role she vacated on her old team. Growing emotional maturity accompanies physical maturation as Valeria learns to manage intense emotions, embrace family changes, and step outside her comfort zone to bond with
the Amazons. Méndez (Furia) fluidly combines the challenges of growing up and the pressure of elite athletic competition in this winning novel. Valeria cues as having Argentinian ancestry. Ages 9–up. Agent: Linda Camacho, Gallt & Zacker
Literary.

Starred review from July 1, 2024
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* Valeria "Magic" Salom�n lives for soccer, and she's more than proved her mettle as the lone girl on her grandfather's decorated team, the Overlords. They're poised to dominate the state championship until a host of things goes wrong: her aunt is near death in Argentina, her absent father misses another important game, and Valeria gets her first period in the middle of a semifinals match and has to leave the field. When the team is ultimately eliminated, Valeria is sure that something has shifted between her and the otherwise all-male squad, and her fears are confirmed when she overhears a conversation about her leaving her beloved Overlords--a decision that her grandfather immediately affirms. Feeling betrayed and lost, Valeria is eager to join the talented girls' team, but will they accept her when she's overlooked them for so long? The wonderfully wide-ranging story will appeal to readers both inside the sports sphere and not, and it touches on an incredible variety of topics, all treated with equal importance. Complicated, caring family dynamics and gorgeous friendships that overcome the bumps of adolescence are beautiful to behold. There are also thought-provoking meditations on grief, the immigrant experience, and gendered-sports struggles. Frank (and often funny) discussions of menstruation and period products are another welcome inclusion. An emotional and engaging examination of the fundamentals: family, friendship, and f�tbol.

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July 15, 2024
A 12-year-old soccer star contends with joining an all-girls soccer team for the first time. Valeria "Magic" Salom�n is used to standing out as both the only girl in the league and the best player on the team in her Utah hometown. But the news that T�a Antonella has passed away in Argentina arrives just as Magic gets her first period and embarrassingly bleeds through her white shorts in front of everyone during a State Cup match. This perfect storm of calamities throws Magic off her game. After they lose, she's kicked off the team. Worse, her grandfather is the coach; Valeria has been raised by her paternal grandparents (she doesn't know her birth mother, and her father, who was 17 when she was born, lives in Argentina). Though she knows Abuelo is grieving for his daughter, Valeria still feels betrayed that he's let the assistant coach cut her, and she's increasingly frustrated by Abuelo's emotional distance. When Maxwell, T�a Antonella's son, joins them in the U.S. and is given her spot on her old team, Magic has had enough. This tough and resilient protagonist is easy to root for as she talks her way onto a girls' soccer team, despite having missed the tryouts. The narrative and action flow smoothly as Magic nervously navigates friendships with girls on her new team, adjusts to having a coach who prioritizes teamwork over relying on a hotshot, and navigates changing family dynamics at home. Fast paced and tenderhearted.(Fiction. 9-13)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 8, 2024

Gr 3-7-Valeria is a 13-year-old athlete with skill, speed, and power who shines in her town, and on the boys' team, The Overlords. When adversity in the form of menstruation makes its appearance, more than soccer is upended in her life. She is rejected by her team and coaches who don't know how to handle her changing body. Her relationship with her grandfather sours (Abuelo is also a coach, and didn't defend Valeria's position on the team). This betrayal crushes her, and what follows is a toxic silence between grandfather and granddaughter. When Valeria joins a girls' team, she has a sisterhood to help her navigate menstruation and challenge the stigma associated with periods. While this novel touches on many relevant topics for young people, there is still the question of a father figure's silence and the damage done to a child. In the end, there is no explanation or discussion for why Valeria's abuelo abandoned her when she needed him most. At a certain point in the novel, the grandfather comforts Valeria after she commits a terrible foul on the pitch. The embrace is what readers are waiting for, but it feels unearned without an actual discussion of the pair's horrible silence that spanned a couple hundred pages. The author's prose excels at depicting f�tbol and its culture, as well as sisterhood in sports. But the depiction of a toxic male figure could benefit from more unpacking. VERDICT For middle grade readers who love complicated families, sports, and realistic fiction, this novel will be a strong fit.-Stephanie Creamer

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