Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

Most of this review has been pieced together from a conversation in YA Reads for Teachers (and Any Other Adults) on Goodreads. This month the new-ish book I wanted to read Catching Jordan won the nomination which means I lead the discussion. This book is wonderful to moderate. Please know all the words below are mine. I figured since I said them to begin with I could rearrange them any way I liked.


Before I go off on a "I love this book so much that I want to marry it and have its babies" tangent...I want you to know that this book is exactly what I expected and in no way what I thought it was going to be at all!

Here's what I expected

1. A book about football

2. A book that highlighted football games and talked about aspects of the game I didn't understand

3. A romantic comedy

What I didn't expect

1. The subtle commentary about how boys treat girls in sports

2. The reason Jordan chose the boy she chose

3. What gets me is the sex scene...I wasn't even allowed to lock my bedroom door when I was alone and my mother would have flipped had she caught me in my room with a boy...and, she, like Jordan's mother, would have known what was going on. In some ways jordan's parents are 'too cool' and 'hip'.

4. All the f-bombs...even if I know that kids cuss that much when grown-ups aren't around (what I hear in the hall is sometimes astounding) and even if I know that as Jordan matures there seems to be less cussing and over-all 'puffing' up...wow lots of f-bombs

Jordan is a girl who at first seems pretty strong-willed and bad -a, but has actually spent her life trying to please others...her parents, her coach, her best-friend and the list goes on. And, although she has incredible talent as a football player, she still doesn't feel confident enough around girls her age to consider them friends.  It is her best friend that helps her find the balance and, although he is a boy, he is the one who seems to have her best interest at heart. If only he could stop sleeping around and partying enough to get through to her. 


Kenneally did a great job of showing us how easy it is to be a girl in a boy sport in high school compared to the college-level...a sad, but believable approach. Jordan must figure out who she is. She must decide whether she's a college football player (one that's on the bench or one that plays) or a girl who loves her best friend or a girl who loves someone who treats her with kid gloves or a daughter who needs her father's approval. I think this book wonderful shows how our high school dreams morf and change and it shows how we can choose to accept this change or we can find against it our whole lives. In one of those realities we'd have an incredibly unhappy future.


Feel free to discuss...

Oh, and here's the author's website if you're interested:

http://mirandakenneally.com/

Her 25 things is pretty awesome!


Want to contribute to the conversation? Want to read and discuss why YA books with your adult brain? Come join us!

5 Stars

Seriously, if you want a romance, this is it. If you want a book about a girl who plays football, this is it too!


Teacher Advisories 

Sex 4/5

There is a sex scene. The scene is not described in any way. Jordan keeps her door locked and when her mother interrupts by knocking. Jordan and the boy get dressed hastily unlock the door and come down-stairs. Jordan talks about the awkwardness of the situation, but nothing seems to come of it from her mother, just a look.

Language 5/5

The F-word about 25 times. Inappropriate sexual slang. Crude language.

Substance Abuses 3/5

There's underage drinking at parties.

Violence 2/5

A girl yells at a boy, he yells back. There's a fight.


Touchy Subjects

Slumber Parties
Sam and Jordan hang out all of the time. Sam stays the night at Jordan's, but they sleep head to toe.

Girls in Sports and Title IX
I'm sure that athletes will want to talk about how Jordan is treated on the field as being unrealistic or too realistic. They may want to talk about this in relation to Title IX.
What it means to love someone
Jordan has to learn what love means. She also has to learn that love doesn't mean always doing what someone tells you to do, especially if that is against what your heart says.
Sexism
Jordan's father doesn't treat her the same say he does her brother. Jordan's team and coach, treat her pretty fairly, but other players do not.

How this book is used in the classroom

1] Independent Read option

Pinch Hit by Tim Green

OK, so Pinch Hit is one of those books that I probably would not have picked up and read on my own, but I won it at YA Reads for Teachers (And Other Adults) and the rules of winning are that you read and post.

So, I read it, and let me tell you I read it in May at the end of the school year with a million other things going on...it wasn't really doing it for me. Frankly, I'm not sure if I do middle grade books for middle grade kids very well. But, I kept going Sam in one chapter and Trevor in another. I found that, if I stopped being 'adult' about it, I was beginning to enjoy the cliffhanger end to each chapter and then starting the next chapter up with the other character so a person might read 4 or 5 chapters before they realized it. Perfect for reluctant readers (OK, so I totally/all the way didn't stop being 'adult' about it).

This book is about Sam, an All-American baseball player and Trevor, a prissy (not because he wants to be, but because his mom makes him) Hollywood mega-star. Trevor wants to play real baseball more than anything and Sam wants his father's horror film script green-lighted (or, is that green-lit?). After Trevor realizes that he and Sam look about 99% identical, they, with the help of Trevor's female co-star, switch places. There are parts were things get a little hairy...Sam reads/Trevor does not, Sam knows Shakespeare/Trevor does not, Sam can switch it/Trevor...and so on, but for the most part the grown-ups don't get it. Things go rather well until the boys figure out that they are, in fact, real twins and Sam uses Trevor's star power to find their real mother.

Who can the boys trust? Will Trevor be good enough to fool the coach and scouts? Will Sam be able to act? These are all things that will keep kids on their toes and there's just enough sports to make it interesting and just enough romance to entice all kids to want to read it. I got hooked and got to the end wanting more, I'm pretty sure most kids will too.

This book is like the Prince and the Pauper meets The Whipping Boy, I think it would make a cute Disney movie starring a set of adorable twins...I guess the Sprouse twins from The Suite Life of Zach and Cody are too old aren't they?

4 Stars   


Teacher Advisories
Sex 0/5 
I think there's a kiss on the cheek...maybe...
Language 0/5 
Nothing.
Substance Abuses 0/5
None.
Violence 1/5
A talent agent gets pretty nasty with Sam. Trevor and his mother have a verbal altercation. Sam gets bullied by a team-mate. Trevor as Sam retaliates. The bully gets what he deserves in the end and lessons are learned all around.

Touchy Subjects
Lying
Of course, this book couldn't work without lots of lying. The kids get found out and the truth does bring everyone closer because you know the parents were lying too when they didn't tell each of the boys that he had a brother.
Relationships with parents
When the boys switch places they begin to realize what they have. Trevor even begins to see that his parents do love him. It's too bad it took a switch to see that. Kids might see that their parents really are trying to do right by them.

How this book is used in the classroom
1] Independent Read option (not for honors students...reading level is too darned easy, unless, of course, they read it for their independent summer read and for that I have a guide...a guide I should post on this website...hmmm...)