Description
When you're 12 years old and 6 foot tall, people ask the most annoying questions. The #1 Most Annoying Question according to Alma T. Best is, 'Do you play basketball?'
Uh, no. She hates basketball.
Then Alma wins a scholarship to attend Holy Grace, a fancy, basketball-obsessed girls school, and she worries about fitting in.
Rather than admit she lives in Shellsville, home to Holy Grace's biggest basketball rivals, she pretends to have grown up on a distant peach farm.
But when a twist of fate means Alma has to suddenly produce large quantities of peaches, she finds herself in a bit of a jam ...
Review
Alma T. Best is six foot tall and about to start Year 7 at Holy Grace Girls School on a scholarship. The first question everyone asks when she meets them for the first time is “do you play basketball?” Her answer is always no I don’t - Alma can’t stand basketball!
But Alma does want to fit in at school so instead of saying she lives in Shellsville (which is a small town near the sewerage treatment plant and Holy Grace’s biggest basketball rival), she says her family live on a peach farm.
But one small lie always causes chaos and Alma finds herself with more than one problem to solve. Can her new best friend Anika help her? And why did she ever let the captain of the basketball team convince her to play when she is really terrible at it?
This book will resonate with lots of readers who are starting at a new school, as Alma tries to find her place and to make new friends as well. There are lots of basketball references and games throughout the book as well as themes of friendship, family and teamwork. This is a wonderful story for those in lower secondary.
