Shake It / Got Pride

February 1, 2013
Grades 8-11 Like others in the Lockwood Lions series, these two issue-driven episodes, bound together, present stories with different narratorsone a high-school football player, the other a cheerleaderand several shared incidents. Newly transferred to predominantly African American Lockwood High, white kicker ER bears up under a steady stream of racial trash-talking but struggles to cope with a former girlfriend who won't take get lost for an answer, a teammate he spots shooting up, and finding his divorced mother in bed with another woman. But he meets and clicks with Randal, the other narrator, who for her part is struggling with her biracial identity, a former friend, and personal conflicts with fellow cheerleaders who have been variously shot, raped, or otherwise traumatized. Both accounts are cast largely in dialogue, with contemporary cadences but minimal use of obscenities. The near-total lack of actual football or cheerleading action in either title may disappoint, but the urban edge in even the friendly repartee will grab readers, and Randal and ER both ultimately emerge with their relationship, spirits, and consciences intact.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)