Savvy lives for basketball.  She’s entering the eighth grade, is six foot two (and still growing), and can nail her three point shot anytime, anywhere.  She’s had to move across the country from New Mexico to Rhode Island, and basketball gets her through it.  With her new friend Gonzo she tries out for–and makes–the elite 18U basketball team, the Fire.  As her new coach tells her, she has the raw potential and talent, but it needs development.  The older girls push her around on the court, and Savvy finds herself sitting on the bench for the first time.

Meanwhile, there are problems at home.  Savvy’s older sister Callie makes the varsity cheerleading squad just to find that she’s grown too heavy to be a flier.  She also snags a boyfriend–the football player Savvy has a crush on.  Mom and Dad are stressed about work and finances.  Aunt Betty, who took in the family, ends up in the hospital and comes home frail and too weak to care for her sheep.  Savvy finds unexpected peace in caring for the sheep under Aunt Betty’s guidance.  As an added bonus, lifting all those hay bales builds the strength she needs on the court.

The ultimate crisis finally erupts when pills are found in Savvy’s gym bag during a tournament.  Savvy swears that the pills–steroids–are not hers, but no one entirely believes her.  Savvy is suspended from the team.  Has all her hard work been for nothing?  Will she loose the one thing that keeps her going?  Or will she lose something even more important?

Once I started this book, I couldn’t put it down.  I like Savvy.  She chaffed under Coach Fitz’s criticism and constant drills, but she did them and grew as a player.  Even when life through the worst at her, she struggled to keep going.  She can be cocky (after all, she is a good basketball player) and she loses her temper.  She gets respect on the court, but has to put up with jerks at school.  She is also willing to own up to her mistakes and learn from them.  She doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind, even when people may not want to hear her. 

I can’t wait to put Boost (Penguin Speak 2008) by Kathy Mackel in the hands of my students.  Savvy is a strong, talented athlete anyone can look up to.