Discover what happens when one girl wants to break barriers in a sport dominated by boys in this exciting and thoughtful novel by the author of The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary.
Mikayla is a wrestler; when you grow up in a house full of brothers who wrestle, it’s inevitable. It’s also a way to stay connected to her oldest brother, Evan, who moved in with their dad. Some people are objecting to having to having a girl on the team. But that’s not stopping Mikayla. She’s determined to work harder than ever, and win.
Lev is determined to make it to the state championships this year. He’s used to training with his two buddies as the Fearsome Threesome; they know how to work together. At the beginning of sixth grade, he’s paired with a new partner – a girl. This better not get in the way of his goal.
Mikayla and Lev work hard together and become friends. But when they face each other, only one of them can win.
(from: Laura Shovan’s website)
- Author: Laura Shovan
- Genre: middle-grade, realistic, sports
- Length: 222 pages, 60k words
- My Ratings:
- Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5
- Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5
- Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ a well-deserved 4/5
Takedown by Laura Shovan is a brilliant middle-grade book about friendship, competition and family told in two perspectives.
The first thing that caught my eye was the dual narration between Mikayla and Lev. Throughout the entire novel, they both maintain their own strong voices. You know exactly who is narrating even if you don’t read the chapter titles.
At the beginning of the story, Mikayla and Lev are two very different people. Mikayla is a girl, joining Lev’s all-boys travel wrestling team, much to his chagrin. Wrestling is the only thing they have in common at first, which sets the tone for the entire story as a heavily sports-based novel.
Although wrestling forms the basis of this book, there was a great balance between wrestling and the story. As a non-wrestler, the amount of technical language used wasn’t overwhelming and was explained clearly.
I loved the character development and the friendships made over the course of this book. I highly recommend it for sports lovers ages 10 and up. If you’re looking for books with a strong cast of likable, three-dimensional characters and an intriguing premise, look no further than Takedown.
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Please do not reproduce, copy, repost, etc. any part of this review without my permission or without crediting me. It takes time and effort to write them. Thank you!