cover image Go Figure, Gabriella Grant!

Go Figure, Gabriella Grant!

Linda Lee Maifair. Zondervan Publishing Company, $3.99 (64pp) ISBN 978-0-310-20702-3

Mayfair (the Darcy J. Doyle, Daring Detective series) launches a new sports-centered fiction series for girls with this lighthearted chapter book. Gabriella Grant has lots to juggle these days. She's just begun sixth grade at the middle school, and she's also preparing to skate in a regional competition. Soon Gabriella is torn between devoting time and hard work to the sport she loves or participating in extracurricular activities with her new friends. Gabriella's supportive, and unashamedly Christian, coach helps her visualize her priorities and develop a happy balance among the demands in her life. Mayfair's depiction of typical middle-school social norms and the dilemmas they create will strike a chord with many readers. Her breezy style and chatty dialogue keep the story moving at a quick pace. While non-Christians may find Mayfair's discussions of Christian faith intrusive, in context such passages do not sound contrived. Three other titles in the series are being released simultaneously. Ages 7-10. (Mar.)