  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 03/01/2015 Twelve-year-old Kaitlin has dedicated her short life to figure skating and dreams of making the Olympic team. She is homeschooled by her equally obsessed mother and largely isolated from anything not directly related to her skating career. When the normally steady Kaitlin has a meltdown in reaction to her scores at a meet, yelling at the judges and knocking over an awards table, she is summarily dismissed from her club, dropped by her coach, and forced to join the skate club of last resort, Falton, sneeringly referred to as “fall down” by the other, more prestigious clubs in the area. Tasked by her new coach with finding the emotional depth missing from her technically proficient skating by performing to an intimidating tango piece instead of her usual Swan Lake, Kaitlin learns, with help from the new friends she makes at Falton, to trust herself and let go. Kaitlin is an appealing heroine, written sensitively by Nall. The backstage look at elite-level skating will hook young fans of the sport. - Copyright 2015 Booklist. School Library Journal - 02/01/2015 Gr 3–6—There is nothing in the world that Kaitlin wants more than to be a championship figure skater. She trains hard and even begins homeschooling in order to realize this dream. But when Kaitlin throws a tantrum after her performance at a competition, she's dropped by her coach and her prestigious club. When no one else will accept her, Kaitlin joins the Fallton Club as a last resort. Unfortunately, Fallton is known as the Fall Down Club, and Kaitlin doesn't think that life can get any worse. She soon realizes that the skaters at Fallton are nice and she decides that things might not be that bad. Now her problem is learning a new routine in a very short time frame. Nall's novel will appeal to a wide audience, whether readers are interested in figure skating or simply looking for a fun read. Kaitlin is a spunky protagonist and the secondary characters are mostly well developed, though one is a stereotypical mean girl whose cruel streak is neatly explained. Figure skating can be a catty environment, so depicting the members of the Fallton Club as encouraging and caring is a sound choice, showing readers that they can be competitive without being nasty. VERDICT A good addition to any middle grade collection, but especially those lacking in female-centric sports stories.—Paige Garrison, Aurora Central Public Library, CO - Copyright 2015 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Loading...
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