Sabotage Season (The Kicks)

Sabotage Season (The Kicks)

The Kicks’ championship hopes are being sabotaged in the second book in a series that celebrates confidence and teamwork, from star soccer player and Olympic gold medalist Alex Morgan. Things are going wrong left and right for the Kentville girls’ soccer team, and Devin’s sure the girls from their rival team, the Pinewood Panthers, are behind the many mishaps. Can Devin get to the bottom of the mystery and stop the sabotage before her team’s championship hopes disappear for good? Gr 4-6-The Kentville Kangaroos, a California middle-school soccer team, return. Devin is a cross-county transplant, but as a serious student and zealous cocaptain, she aims to lead her team to victory through drills, hard work, and extra practice. The Kicks find themselves unexpectedly within reach of the playoffs. Then minor troubles crop up, and they can't help but suspect sabotage. Through her nightly video texting with her Connecticut buddy, readers follow Devin's interactions with boys, soccer, a little sister, and other distractions like an exploding soccer ball, damaged team materials, and scheduling mix-ups. Devin's narration sounds artificial, but overall this book is a good choice for girls looking for mysteries or stories about sports or friendship.-Glynis Jean Wray, Ocean County Library, Toms River, NJα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journal. LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. After a rocky season start, Kentville Middle School’s girls soccer team, the Kangaroos—aka the Kicks—has steadily improved and may even get to the play-offs. Seventh-grade cocaptain Devin Burke and teammates, including friends Jessi, Emma, and Zoe, are really excited. Then a series of mishaps and misfortunes starts hampering efforts and dimming hopes: Devin’s soccer gear mysteriously disappears; Zoe gets injured; scheduling snafus keep delaying practices. When disruptions continue, the girls start wondering if events aren’t coincidences but someone trying to ruin their tournament chances. With play-offs nearing, the Kicks must stay focused and also identify and stop the perpetrator. But are their suspicions misdirected—and is retribution the right answer? Despite some conventional plot elements and routine characters, this is an entertaining, breezy read. Devin’s lively first-person narrative incorporates plenty of soccer and daily-life details while highlighting themes about the importance of teamwork, good sportsmanship, and maintaining perspective about what matters—from playing your best to friendship. Grades 5-7. --Shelle Rosenfeld "[The] lively first-person narrative incorporates plenty of soccer and daily-life details while highlighting themes about the importance of teamwork, good sportsmanship, and maintaining perspectiive about what matters--from playing your best to friendship." ― Booklist Alex Morgan became the youngest member of the US women’s national soccer team in 2009 and competed in the 2011 FIFA World Cup. She was the first overall pick in the 2011 Women’s Professional Soccer draft and landed a spot on the US Olympic women’s soccer team in 2012. At the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, held in London, Morgan won her first Olympic medal, a gold, with the American team. In 2015, she achieved her lifelong goal of winning a World Cup trophy, in the most-watched soccer match in US history. She now plays for the Orlando Pride in Orlando, Florida. Sabotage Season CHAPTER ONE “Devin? Is that you?” I set down the huge bag of soccer balls I was carrying and turned to see Coach Flores behind me. “Hi, Coach,” I said. “I thought I’d set up the practice field early, since it’s my turn to run practice today.” Coach smiled at me. “Need any help? I was just doing some paperwork in my office when I heard noise in the equipment room, but I can finish up later if you want.” I shook my head. “Thanks, but there’s not much to do. I kind of want to get my head ready too. Know what I mean?” She nodded. “Back in the day, my mom used to bring me to the field an hour before we had to report for each game, but I didn’t mind. It helped me to calm down and focus.” “Exactly,” I agreed. Coach headed back to her office, and I carried the balls from the equipment room out to the Kentville Middle School soccer field. I had to admit, I was feeling pretty pumped up. First, the boys’ team was at an away game, so we got to use their practice field instead of our crummy field of weeds with garbage cans for goalposts. Second, Coach had said that the team co-captains could each run a practice this week to get leadership experience, and today was my turn. And the third reason was that I had figured out something awesome. Our team, the Kentville Kangaroos (otherwise known as the Kicks), had a shot at making the play-offs! When I first joined the team, I never thought we had a chance. At the start of the season, we were pretty awful. We lost a bunch of games, but then we figured things out, and we got a lot better.