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smateer73's review against another edition
5.0
This is like my favorite Margaret Peterson Haddix book. It is intensely interesting and well done. It hooks you in and doesn't let go. It will appeal to sports fans and not, it isn't a sports novel, though it has sports in it.
izzys_internet_bookshelf's review against another edition
1.0
1/5
I was meh about this book. I liked the concept but I felt like everything was going so slow and then the ending just made me mad.
I was meh about this book. I liked the concept but I felt like everything was going so slow and then the ending just made me mad.
thorspoptarts's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
sarahcvo's review against another edition
2.0
I've liked Margaret Peterson Haddix's previous books, and I picked this one up because the premise was intriguing, but in the end, it wasn't that interesting. I didn't care that much about the characters, the protagonist irritated me, and the message was too preachy. It wasn't a bad book, just not as good as I wanted it to be.
que_bella's review against another edition
I do like some books by this author (namely the missing series and the among the hidden series) but I didn't care for this book. I didn't hate it, but I just wasn't into it. Here's what I got out of it (I read halfway through, but didn't feel like finishing).
KT is a star softball player, but something weird happens during the final, and most important, game. She blacks out as she throws the ball and finds herself in a totally different world. One where her lazy brother Max is the family star, and school had turned into a place where you exercise all day. Not to mention that softball has become a rare sport and is hardly ever played.
Not only that, it's like the KT she switched places with didn't have any friends, that she can tell and definitely not her old friends, all the teachers seem like they're trying to help her. But KT doesn't know why.
Will she find a way back to her old world with an unlikely helper, or will this be her new reality?
I don't know, but I can guess.
***SPOILERS THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE TRUE****
I would guess that she and Max find some way to bring softball back (but I don't actually know) or find something or someone and find a way to get back to their world and even though KT lost the softball game (I'm guessing again), she appreciates her brother. (A wild guess and I can't prove this at all, that's just how I'm guessing how I ends. Like I said, I didn't actually finish. I just wanted to guess how it ended.
KT is a star softball player, but something weird happens during the final, and most important, game. She blacks out as she throws the ball and finds herself in a totally different world. One where her lazy brother Max is the family star, and school had turned into a place where you exercise all day. Not to mention that softball has become a rare sport and is hardly ever played.
Not only that, it's like the KT she switched places with didn't have any friends, that she can tell and definitely not her old friends, all the teachers seem like they're trying to help her. But KT doesn't know why.
Will she find a way back to her old world with an unlikely helper, or will this be her new reality?
I don't know, but I can guess.
***SPOILERS THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE TRUE****
I would guess that she and Max find some way to bring softball back (but I don't actually know) or find something or someone and find a way to get back to their world and even though KT lost the softball game (I'm guessing again), she appreciates her brother. (A wild guess and I can't prove this at all, that's just how I'm guessing how I ends. Like I said, I didn't actually finish. I just wanted to guess how it ended.
suzannedix's review against another edition
4.0
KT Sutten is a softball obsessed 8th grader. Nothing else matters to her and she is disdainful of all people, especially her brother Max, who don't appreciate athletics as being all-important. After a strange occurrence at a softball tournament leaves KT baffled and confused about her life, she learns to rethink who she is and who she wants to be.
While the premise of this story (an alternative reality where academic teams reign supreme on middle and high school campuses) is interesting, KT is such a negative and self-absorbed narrator that it is hard to empathize with her. She does face a turning point in her life and a bit too predictably rises to the challenge of becoming a more humble and open-minded young woman.
This is not one of my favorite Haddix books but I did enjoy its originality. A great middle school read for both boys and girls. A bit of mystery as well as a science fiction story, this is a short and easy read.
While the premise of this story (an alternative reality where academic teams reign supreme on middle and high school campuses) is interesting, KT is such a negative and self-absorbed narrator that it is hard to empathize with her. She does face a turning point in her life and a bit too predictably rises to the challenge of becoming a more humble and open-minded young woman.
This is not one of my favorite Haddix books but I did enjoy its originality. A great middle school read for both boys and girls. A bit of mystery as well as a science fiction story, this is a short and easy read.
kellerm's review against another edition
4.0
It's a great idea about figuring out what priorities are. What's important in life and family. It was a little difficult to get into.
yapha's review against another edition
5.0
KT is an average student, but an amazing softball player. Although she is only in eighth grade, she is already working towards a softball scholarship in order to go to college. During a freak accident in a championship game, she blacks out. When she wakes up, it is to a world turned upside down. In this new world, sports take place during the school day -- these are the regular classes. After school sports are now "Acs," or academic competition. The mathletes are now the school heroes, and the former jocks get straight A's but are regarded as the teachers' pets and "nerds." KT has the hardest time making sense of this world, where all of her softball trophies are replaced by her brother's math trophies. Her parents are embarrassed by her need to exercise and beg her not to jog to school. They even want her to drop her nickname. KT slowly puts the pieces together, figuring out how this world works. Next, though, comes the challenge of trying to return to her own world. Another winning fantasy story from Margaret Peterson Haddix. Recommended for grades 5 and up.
jshettel's review against another edition
1.0
I'm sorry to say this ranks right up there on my list of "worst books of 2012." I like Haddix, but this book was a mess. It tried to deliver social commentary, but it just didn't work.
nerfherder86's review against another edition
4.0
Good book that flips academics and sports obsessions on their head--what if you woke up in a world where liking to play a sport was looked at as weird, and a minority thing to do, while everyone went crazy for brainiacs and smart kids who competed in academic challenge competitions for college scholarships?? (Me personally, I'd love it!) that's what happens to KT when she's injured while pitching in her championship softball game. She finds herself in a twisted version of her reality and has to try to figure out how to get back home. Great book!