#13--Curveball: The Year I Lost My Grip--Jordan Sonnenblick

I may have mentioned in the past that Jordan Sonnenblick has been a visiting author at my school....and we have been lucky enough to have him come TWICE!!

Curveball is his latest title to come out and it has been very popular with my students, so, since my goal was to read at least two books last week by previously visiting authors, I grabbed this one off one of my many stacks of unread books around my house.

At the end of his 8th grade year, star pitcher, Peter Friedman has a career-ending injury in his elbow.  After spending the summer in physical therapy after surgery, Peter isn't sure what his freshman year will be like since he is no longer an athlete.  His best friend, and pitching partner, AJ doesn't believe that Peter won't be back on the diamond come spring.  And he is working hard to get Peter back into peak physical condition, no matter what it takes.  Peter can't bring himself to tell AJ the truth--that he can never throw a ball again.

Fortunately, Peter also has photography--the passion that he and his grandfather, a professional photographer, both share.  When his grandfather realizes that he is beginning to suffer from signs of Alzheimer's, he gives Peter all of his high-grade camera equipment.  Peter has signed up for a photography class as one of his electives, and when he proves, on the first day, that he knows quite a bit about photography, the instructor sends him over to the advanced class....and within minutes, another cute freshman joins him...the only two freshmen in the class.  Peter and Angelika get paired together to work on projects, and Peter really likes her, but Angelika isn't interested in dating someone who can't be honest with those he cares about--Peter hasn't told AJ the truth, and he also hasn't told his parents what is going on with his grandfather.

One of the things that I really like about Sonnenblick is that he brings back main characters from other books as peripheral characters.  If you hadn't read his other books, the characters wouldn't necessarily jump out at you, but they are nice surprises every time it happens.  This time around, San and Emily from Zen and the Art of Faking It make an appearance, and it was nice to see them again, a little bit older in this outing.

This book made me both laugh and tear up, which Sonnenblick tends to do--and is the mark of a great book, in my mind.

Happy Reading!!!