Topspin

September 1, 2013
Grades 7-10 In Australia, tennis is a year-round sport, explains Kat. The recent Canadian transplant and self-confessed tennis junkie finds herself at the center of a drug-testing conspiracy. When her doubles partner, Miri, starts slipping away from their hotel room in the evenings, instead of resting for their matches at the Optus Junior Tour, concern (and nosiness) disrupts Kat's gamewhich also distracts Hamish, Miri's tennis-star boyfriend. Bates doesn't hold back on action, whether athletic or otherwise. Cheating, blackmail, and drugs make for a scandalous romp in the usually squeaky clean world of tennis. Matches are recalled at breathless speed, and while Kat's future in tennis will likely be as a spectator, she is an enthusiastic narrator and keeps the stakes of each bout high. The prose is sometimes disposed to repetitive turns of phrasethe characters in particular seem to have an issue with dropping their jawsbut tennis fans should find plenty to cheer about in this sporty endeavor.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)