Punt, Pass & Point!

amy, the main character of Punt, Pass and Point starts the story at low point in her life, so low in fact that she doesn't think she deserves to start her name with a capital A. The girl who can run faster, jump higher and catch the ball better than the boys, the brightest star of the Bay City Hotshots football team, has broken her leg and feels her time in the spotlight is gone. At the ripe old age of 13, she has to hang up her cleats, pack away her uniform and retire. Everything goes downhill after that, including her schoolwork, her grades, and even her interest in celebrating her birthday. A birthday present from her parents, a leotard and a year of lessons at Madam Lezille Camille's School of Ballet, does nothing to improve matters for Amy. Her protests that ballet is for sissies do no good, because the following Saturday morning she is unceremoniously dropped off at class with the admonition to "Behave yourself." It doesn't take Amy long to discover ballet lessons are not quite the sissy sport she thought they were and that she has a few things to learn about herself and others. At a time in which many books tell girls it's "OK" to play football or baseball, it's refreshing to have a book that says it's "OK" to dance ballet too. The central message of this story is be yourself, your best self, no matter what life deals you. Only age 8 when she wrote the book, Bonnie-Alise Leggat's pictures and prose are a match for any adult's and she has produced a book that both boys and girls will enjoy.

I know the author of this book! It is an excellent book for children and I give it five stars!