GETTING IN THE GAME

By turns comical and poignant, this debut novel is narrated by Jo, a plucky seventh grader and the only girl trying out for the middle-school ice hockey team. Although her best friend, Ben, also hopes to make the team, he cautions her that a popular tough guy doesn't want her on the squad and "he's going to do everything he can to make you look bad." Jo, however, refuses to be intimidated, sticks with the tryouts and lands a spot on the team. Yet it is anything but smooth skating: her teammates refuse to pass her the puck, Ben begins to avoid her, and her hot-tempered father is ejected from the first game for what Jo wryly dubs "one of his spectacular public displays of poor sportsmanship." Jo's life off-ice also hits some rough spots. Her parents have recently separated; she sorely misses her older brother, who is away at college; and her grandfather, suffering from dementia, eventually must move to the nursing home where her mother works. And Jo realizes that she might want to be more than friends with the still-distant Ben, who she fears is flirting with the self-absorbed, mean-spirited "queen of the seventh grade." Jo's snappy, present tense narrative jumps nimbly from her thoughts to dialogue, often with droll or touching segues between the two. Credible dilemmas, an appealing heroine and strong supporting characters keep FitzGerald's impressive first fiction gliding along apace. Ages 9-12. (Apr.)