Author: Matt Wallace
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Chirp by Kate Messner
Sidetracked by Diana Harmon Asher
Rating:
Summary (provided by publisher): MJ knows what it means to hurt. Bruises from gymnastics heal, but big hurts—like her dad not being around anymore—don’t go away. Now her mom needs to work two jobs, and MJ doesn’t have friends at school to lean on.
There is only one thing MJ loves: the world of professional wrestling. She especially idolizes the luchadores and the stories they tell in the ring. When MJ learns that her neighbor, Mr. Arellano, runs a wrestling school, she has a new mission in life: join the school, train hard, and become a wrestler.
But trouble lies ahead. After wrestling in a showcase event, MJ attracts the attention of Mr. Arellano’s enemy at the State Athletic Commission. There are threats to shut the school down, putting MJ’s new home—and the community that welcomed her—at risk. What can MJ do to save her new family?
My opinion: I never would have expected to enjoy a book about wrestling as much as I enjoyed this one. I never really watched wrestling so I expected that I would feel lost by the terminology, or just by the focus on the sport. But Wallace does an excellent job of integrating definitions naturally into the plot via MJ's introduction to various skills. This book celebrates how a wrestler's individual skills and showmanship works towards the overall benefit of the school. The plot of the Athletic Commission trying to shut down the school serves to ratchet up the tension but bay not have been entirely necessary and makes extreme. Personally, I have liked a bit more about luchadores and their relationship to American wrestling. Even so, its a highly entertaining read.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
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