The Million Dollar Kick

The great news: The prize is $1 million! With it, 13-year-old Whisper Nelson could buy jewelry, clothes, and pay for college. She could even send her sister to college! To win, she must kick a goal past a professional soccer player. The bad news: She hates sportsamp;mdash;all sportsamp;mdash;with a passion! After her infamous soccer goal four years ago, to the other team¿s advantage, Whisper vowed to never play sports again.

Afraid of, yet again, looking like a total failure in front of a crowd of people, Whisper has a tough choice to make. Will she try the kick?

Dan Gutman not only succeeds in writing an exciting play-by-play sports story, but also captures the essence of middle-school life. Narrator Christina Moore scores big with the right mix of emotionsamp;mdash;from insecurity to confidenceamp;mdash;from loss to victory.