You Can't Spike Your Serves

Description

Alicia's pen pal's cheer squad needs new uniforms, but they don't have the money to buy them. So Alicia decides to raise money for them with a volleyball tournament. She is excited to play herself, but she can't seem to get her serves right. Will Alicia remember that you can't spike your serves?

The youngest in a family of nine children, Julie Gassman grew up in Howard, South Dakota. After college, she traded in small-town life for the world of magazine publishing in New York City. She now lives in southern Minnesota with her husband and their three children.

Alicia wants to help her pen pal, Jenny, earn money to purchase new pom-poms, and when an Olympic volleyball player comes to school to teach the fourth graders her sport, Alicia comes up with the idea of a tournament to raise the needed funds. Learning the sport is fun, and Alicia, a good jumper, especially enjoys spiking the ball. She discovers how hard serving is without being able to jump, but Reese suggests the perfect technique for her. Manga-style graphics give this book a cutting-edge look and enhance understanding of the text. Short chapters, colorful cartoon illustrations, and engaging subject matter make this title appropriate for those new to chapter books as well as older readers.-- "School Library Journal" Victory School for Super Athletes is an elite academy in which every student has a super physical aptitude. Fourth-grader Alicia Gohl is a "super jumper" and has used this skill to become an accomplished cheerleader and tumbler. When Alicia learns that her friend Jenny's cheer squad at a nearby school is in need of funds for new pom-poms, she considers ways that she and the Victory School kids can help. Fortuitously, Olympic volleyball gold-medalist Reece Robinson arrives as a visiting PE instructor to teach the Victory School kids to play volleyball. Alicia hatches a plan, but it hinges on playing a sport she can't play. Will she risk looking foolish at a schoolwide fund-raiser volleyball tournament to help a friend? Though the Victory School kids are super talented, they are also super relatable, and this installment in the Sports Illustrated Kids: Victory School Superstars series offers manageable chapters and bright, Archie Andrews-style illustrations that would be perfect for reading aloud.-- "Booklist"