Vegas Tryout

by Lorna Schultz Nicholson

Overview

Toronto synchro swimmer Carrie Munroe is Podium Sports Academy's team flyer and the school's best prospect for making it at the upcoming Vegas tryouts -- fulfilling her dreams of being in a glitz-and-glamour professional show. Carrie feels there's only one thing holding her back -- the weekly poolside weigh-ins. Her coach agrees, and Carrie is put on a special diet to control her weight. But the pressure to succeed while also dealing with troublesome family members back home lead Carrie to make some very risky decision about her health and eating habits.

To come out on top, Carrie will have to accept that although she may not have the typical swimmer's body, she has the strength to be the best -- but only if she takes care of herself.

[Fry reading level - 3.0

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459400726
Publisher:	James Lorimer & Company Ltd., Publishers
Publication date:	03/14/2012
Series:	Lorimer Podium Sports Academy Series
Sold by:	De Marque
Format:	eBook
Pages:	144
Lexile:	HL540L (what's this?)
File size:	527 KB
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

LORNA SCHULTZ NICHOLSON has written picture books, middle grade and YA fiction, and non-fiction. She has also written, produced, and hosted programs for television and radio, and is well known for her sports writing. Lorna regularly visits schools to share her passion for literacy with students. She lives in Edmonton.

Editorial Reviews

"The exploration of teenage anorexia is well written with a tie-in to the synchronized sports culture and the world of elite sports schools. The extreme emphasis on body image is something all teenagers (and adults) must deal with in our media-saturated culture."

Resource Links

"The level of detail used to describe the sport of synchronized swimming [is] fascinating and len[ds] considerable believability to the story."

CM Magazine

"A great choice for reluctant high school readers who are interested in sports fiction...The characters are highly relatable to athletes. The author did a great job of capturing the athlete's personalities. The short chapters make this a quick read."

Southwest Ohio and Neighboring Libraries (SWON)

Gr 8 Up—At Podium Sports Academy, a school for top teen athletes, Aaron Wong wants more than anything to keep his position on the hockey team. He shows up the team's captain, Ramsey, in practice. Mad that a rookie could best him, Ramsey starts giving Aaron a hard time. Things go from bad to worse when Ramsey and his friends start threatening to beat him up. Aaron doesn't want to be a snitch, but he begins to fear for his life. Can he find the courage to tell somebody? The secondary characters are a little one-dimensional, but they don't detract from Aaron's difficult situation. In Vegas Tryout, Carrie loves being on the synchronized swim team, but she's worried that her weight might get in the way of her dreams. When her coach announces in front of the whole team that she needs to lose 10 pounds, Carrie is humiliated. The coach gives her an eating plan to lose the weight in three months, but she wants to lose it in three weeks. Then she'll have the perfect shape for her swim tryout. She eats less and less and passes out. The plot is simple, but hard-hitting, and it accurately depicts anorexia and how it affects teens. Both hi/lo books tackle difficult teen problems in an easy-to-read style.—Kira Moody, Whitmore Public Library, Salt Lake City, UT

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